Entertainment industry representatives told Congress of the increasing economic costs of intellectual property piracy and suggested possible solutions. View the hearing transcripts and video.
A federal appeals court has ruled that a police department did not discriminate against a Muslim officer when it refused to let her wear a head covering as part of her uniform. The court ruled that allowing the officer to wear the head covering would compromise the city’s interest in maintaining religious neutrality.
Some European companies see the benefits of using humor to teach employees how to protect proprietary information. Watch videos using this approach from Barclays and Alcatel-Lucent online.
Communicating with users and training them on data security policies was the most important measure for protecting information, according to a survey of European and North American security professionals. Find out how they rate their own companies.
Sometimes malware can render computers nearly or completely inoperable. It can shut down Windows system tools and security software. Find out more about a free utility that can be placed on a flash drive and used to rescue a crippled machine.
In a California decision, an appeals court has ruled that a company cannot be held responsible for the actions of a former employee. In the case, a man who became romantically involved with a client shot and killed her two years after he was fired from his job.
A federal appeals court has ruled that an injunction against a company accused of stealing trade secrets was inappropriate. The court determined that monetary damages were available for the plaintiffs if they prevailed in their claim.
A provision of the recently approved economic stimulus law (P.L. 111-16) requires that nonfederal employers who receive stimulus money implement whistleblower protection programs.
A bill (S. 485) introduced by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) would require that biocontainment laboratories, which handle highly toxic or dangerous substances, undergo evaluation by the government. Based on these evaluations, the government would report to Congress on the current level of security at the country’s biocontainment labs. The government would also establish regulations for safety and security training for lab personnel.
A bill (S. 773) that was introduced by Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) would establish a high-level cybersecurity office in the government and encourage public-private partnerships to improve cybersecurity.
A bill (S.B. 2149) introduced in Illinois would amend the state’s trade secrets act to prevent litigants in trade secrets cases from redefining what they consider to be intellectual property in the middle of a trial. This tactic has been used to hide information from opposing counsel.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the City of Chicago did not violate the rights of two officers deployed overseas with the U.S. Armed Forces when it asked them to travel to take a test for possible advancement with the police. Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act, workers who are serving in the military may not be denied any benefit of employment because of their service. The officers argued that because they had to travel from their places of deployment to take the advancement test, their coworkers based in Chicago had an unfair advantage. The court ruled that the police department did not violate the law because the opportunity to take the test, not the location or circumstances, was the benefit of employment. (Sandoval v. City of Chicago, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 08-2699, 2009)
In an agreement with the EEOC, YRC Inc. will take steps to enhance diversity to end an investigation into sexual discrimination in its hiring practices. Without admitting wrongdoing, the trucking company agreed to improve its work environment for women and minorities, provide new diversity training for managers, enhance recruiting of women and minorities, and develop new programs to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry.
An employee who was fired after she complained that her manager was illegally discriminating against job applicants may not sue her employer for retaliatory discharge. Though the employee did engage in a protected activity, the court determined that she was fired by an upper-level supervisor for misuse of the company’s computer system. The court found that the supervisor had no knowledge of the employee’s complaints and that the timing was coincidental. (Lakeside-Scott v. Multnomah County, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 05-35896, 2009)
About 44 percent of information security professionals with hiring responsibilities plan to add staff in the coming year, according to a survey by security industry organization ISC². In-demand areas of expertise include information risk management, operations security, and security architecture and models.
Web sites and Web servers are subject to a dizzying array of attacks. It’s important to ensure that servers, software, and programs are properly configured. It’s also important to ensure that such components are properly patched.
The open source Web scanning tool Nitko is known for its comprehensive battery of security tests as well as for its frequent updates. The tool can also be used on numerous types of Web servers. In a recent version of the tool, reporting capabilities were improved. Users can now generate reports in a template-driven format, letting users customize HTML reports for their particular needs.
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