Essential Security and eCipher in the News

Protecting eMail and Saving Your Assets
“… eCipher could save your job or your company some day.”
— Rob Enderle, Technology Pundits

PC Magazine eCipher Pro Review
06.16.08

"eCipher Pro lets you send secure e-mail to any recipient, without ever having to think about the sophisticated mechanisms that make it possible.    — PC Magazine

 

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Control Who Can Forward or Print Your Email, Even Secure Email, Sent from Wireless Hot Spots

Essential Security Software Releases eCipher Email Encryption Software

Bellevue, Washington - June 16, 2008 – Essential Security Software today officially releases eCipher® (http://www.ecipher.com), the next generation of email encryption software.  eCipher protects both business and personal email communications by securely encrypting messages and file attachments. 

eCipher is the latest email encryption solution from Essential Security Software (ESS).  eCipher combines ESS’s innovative email security and encryption technologies with unparalleled ease of use. eCipher puts control of sent email back in the hands of the sender, allowing them to apply additional protections to secure email – preventing unauthorized copying, printing, saving, and forwarding... READ MORE

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Security In The News

Using Employees' Email Against Them
07/07/2008
(Yahoo HotJobs)
Two Bear Stearns executives learned a hard lesson this week: If you're going to say something inappropriate, don't write it in an email. READ MORE

Mobile email now seen as essential
07/07/2008
(vnunet)
A third of UK businesses expect a response to emails within two hours, and one in 10 expects a 30-minute turnaround, according to research by Vodafone..."This year we have seen mobile email access become an essential piece of the business armoury," said Mark Bond, director of the Enterprise Business Unit at Vodafone UK. READ MORE

Who’s Reading Your Email?
07/03/2008
(InfoToday)
One old saw about newfangled email is that it's as private as a postcard. Problem is, many people feel it's as secure as a Registered Mail letter. Two recent events shed interesting, and useful, light on the issues surrounding email security. READ MORE

E-mail leak of 'degree inflation'
07/02/2008
(BBC)
A leaked e-mail shows how university staff are being urged to increase the number of top degree grades to keep pace with competing universities. READ MORE

Phonetaps 'breached privacy law'
07/02/2008
(BBC)
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled Britain breached international conventions by monitoring emails and phone calls between Ireland and the UK. READ MORE

National fears breach of email system
07/02/2008
(Radio New Zealand)
The National Party has contacted the Parliamentary Service because it fears its email system has been breached again...Police launched an investigation in 2006 after former National leader Don Brash claimed that emails leaked to the media were the result of a theft. READ MORE

How to Act When Others Find and Read Private Email
07/02/2008
(wikihow)
We write email to others, and sometimes the contents are meant to be private. However, email often gets read by others who were not intended to, and can cause a great deal of trouble. READ MORE

Study: IT Admins Read Private E-Mail
07/02/2008
(ABCNews)
IT staff routinely snoop on users, riffling through their e-mails and personal files, a newly released survey has found. One IT administrator laughingly said: "Why does it surprise you that so many of us snoop around your files, wouldn't you, if you had secret access to anything you can get your hands on?" READ MORE

Protecting eMail and Saving Your Assets
06/24/ 2008
(technology Pundits)
Security is a bitch and we are constantly exposed to a variety of threats. Even listing all of them would be more frightening than helpful. But one of the most critical areas of exposure is email and the fact that the majority of it is unsecure. READ MORE

FSA fines stockbrokers for poor data security
06/19/2008
(The Register)
A firm of stockbrokers has been fined for failing to adequately protect its customers from the risk of identity fraud. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said its mistakes included failing to manage the risks introduced by staff using instant messaging and web-based email. READ MORE

Stolen State Street tower contained 3,659 Exeter Trust customers's data
06/19/2008
(State Street update) (PogoWasRight)
The stolen tower contained over 4 million emails which included individual names, social security numbers and/or checking account numbers. The server containing the email and client data was not recovered. READ MORE

Pakistani Cricket Official Sacked for E-Mail Leak-Cyber Law Perspecive
(Blogger News Network)
June 12th, 2008
In an incident reminiscent of the earlier incident in India when an email sent by the then coach Greg Chappell to the BCCI president was leaked to the press, former Pakistani Test player Saleem Altaf as Director, Special Projects was sacked on charges of leaking of his e-mail to Pakistani team manager Talat Ali, where he had criticized the Pakistani team for their performance against India in the Bangladesh tri-series.

VA Official Testifies on PTSD Stance in Latest Email Flap (The Wall Street Journal)
Thursday, June 05, 2008
A VA psychologist who circulated an email suggesting her colleagues be less quick to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans got a chance to explain herself to Congress yesterday.

Email leaks a threat to business security (DynamicBusiness)
Thursday, June 05, 2008
One in five businesses has dismissed an employee due to email leaks of company data, shows a Proofpoint survey conducted by Forrester Research. Proofpoint, a data loss prevention business, found that 23 percent of Australian respondents had been negatively affected by leaked data. Almost half had disciplined employees for breaches.

Baby held in Indian jail alongside hacking suspect mum (The Register)
Thursday, June 05, 2008
The three adults, along with their associate Peter Francis, are being held in detention over allegations that Anderson hacked into the email of a military store manager and impersonated him in begging letters.

CCH® HR MANAGEMENT - 6/11/08 (CCH)
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Outbound email remains a key source of risk for U.S. enterprises, with a record 44 percent of surveyed companies reporting that they investigated an email leak of confidential information in the past 12 months.

Exclusive: AT&T notifies employees of laptop theft (PogoWasRight)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
PogoWasRight.org has learned that a laptop containing an unencrypted file with names, Social Security numbers and salary and bonus payments for AT&T management employees was stolen from an employee's vehicle on May 15. No customer or client data were on the stolen laptop. The extent of the breach is currently unknown as AT&T repeatedly declined to disclose the number of employees affected "as a matter of policy."

Walter Reed admits breach of patient information (SearchSecurity)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are investigating how the personal information of 1,000 former patients was left unsecured on a hospital computer. Hospital officials said they were notified of the breach on May 21 by an outside company. Few details are available, but investigators say the information may have been disclosed via a peer to peer (P2P) network.

Bank of NY “loses” 4.5M unencrypted customer records (ZDNet)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
In yet another unbelievable story of data irresponsibility, the Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon lost two sets of unencrypted backup tapes containing private data belonging to 4.5 million individuals. Third-party vendors misplaced the tapes during transport to off-site locations.

Smart phones 'bigger security risk' than laptops (ComputerWorld)
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Smart phones are seen as a more of a security risk than laptops and mobile storage devices, according to new research. Some 94% of senior IT staff fear PDAs present a security risk, just above the 88% who highlighted mobile storage devices as a worry. Nearly eight in 10 said laptops were an issue. Only four in 10 had encrypted data on their laptops, and the remainder said the information was "not worth" protecting.

Few Canadians are 'very confident' their personal data is safe with retailers, banks and governments (Exchange Morning Post)
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
TORONTO - Only seven per cent of Canadians say they are very confident in the ability of Canadian retailers, governments and banks to protect their personal information, a new national survey by CA Canada, a leading enterprise software company, has revealed.

Lack of basic privacy and security measures causing major data breaches, Privacy Commissioner says (CNW Group)
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
OTTAWA, June 3 /CNW Telbec/ - Too many data breaches are occurring because companies have ignored some of the most basic steps to protect personal information, says the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart. The Commissioner's 2007 Annual Report on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) was tabled today in Parliament.

Enterprises at risk from email leaks (vnunet)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Large enterprises continue to risk leaks from outbound email, blogs, message boards, media sharing sites and mobile devices, according to new research. Security firm Proofpoint's annual study of outbound email and content security found that large enterprises have still to take action against information leaks over outbound email and other communications.

Axcess Financial laptop stolen in October, but customers not notified until May (PogoWasRight)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
With many angry voices demanding to know why Bank of New York Mellon customers were not notified of a security breach months ago, some of the smaller breaches that do not get disclosed promptly often get overlooked.

BoI laptops had other banks’ details (The Post)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Four laptops stolen from Bank of Ireland contained details of accounts held by 1,500 customers at other banks, including AIB, Ulster Bank and National Irish Bank. However, it took Bank of Ireland up to two and half weeks to notify the other banks that their customers’ details were on the stolen laptops. The Sunday Business Post has established that most of the customers are still not aware their details were on the laptops.

Large companies paying workers to read employee e-mail (CNET)
Friday, May 23, 2008
If you were thinking of using your work e-mail for job hunting or online dating, think twice. A new survey finds that 41 percent of large companies (those with 20,000 or more employees) are paying staffers to read or otherwise analyze the contents of employees' outbound e-mail.

Calgary seniors' health information on stolen computers (CBC)
Friday, May 23, 2008
Dozens of Calgary seniors are alarmed after learning their credit-card numbers, addresses and health-card numbers were stored on computers that were stolen recently. The Academy Hearing Centre in Brentwood Mall, which provides hearing tests and equipment, mostly to seniors, recently mailed out letters warning of the theft.

OKC buyer finds sensitive information on server (Tulsa World)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is removing hard drives from all surplus computer equipment after a server containing the names and Social Security numbers of thousands of residents was sold at an auction recently.

NHS disc containing sensitive data lost (Telegraph)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
A computer disc containing the medical records of more than 38,000 NHS patients went missing when it was sent to a software company to be backed up - in case the records got lost.

CompTIA: Only One in Four Severe Data Breaches Are Intentional (DarkReading)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Silly mistakes can cost you: Three out of four severe data breaches in an organization are the result of human error or technical failures, according to a new survey by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) of IT security trends in 2007.

Britain Mulls Plan To Store All E-mails And Calls (InformationWeek)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Britain is considering a massive government database to store the e-mails, Internet information, phone-calls, and text messages of all residents to help security forces in the fight against crime and terrorism.

Hospitals underrate malicious intent in data breaches (PogoWasRight)
Monday, May 19, 2008
Hospitals generally are well aware of what they have to do under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to ensure the security of patient data. They are also aware that their own employees might be the ones who breach that security. However, hospitals generally underestimate the malicious intent and the financial damage involved in data breaches and are unaware they're being targeted by perpetrators wishing to commit identity theft or medical fraud.

Employee data breached at U of L president's office (Courier-Journal)
Monday, May 19, 2008
The University of Louisville recently sent letters to about 20 employees in the president’s office alerting them that a security breach may have resulted in their Social Security numbers being compromised.