Data Storage Security

India is really cleaning house now as its government officials tell all communications providers that they have just two months to open up their data.

At the minute, this mainly applies to VoIP provider Skype and internet giant Google – RIM’s BlackBerry has already been dealt with and subdued.

All telcos and communications providers need to build a server in India and let the authorities scrutinise private data storage the officials have said. And after seeing a good result from RIM’s capitulation, India is no doubt expecting a swift acquiescence from Google and Skype. I have two words for them – not likely.

The lawmakers of Jordan temporarily approved a new law last week on cybercrime, after journalists in the country complained that the previous law allowed the government to have massive control over the news.

The cybercrime law, in its previous form, allowed the police and security forces to raid offices where websites were published – all without a warrant or approval from the higher ups.

The new law – temporary until something more permanent can be written – means that court permission needs to be attained before offices can be searched. And, for court permission, the authorities need strong evidence of internet crimes.

Now that a short, 60 day reprieve has been won for BlackBerry mobile maker RIM, the authorities in India have turned their attention to other companies which are apparently endangering the national security of India by not allowing authorities access to private data.

The companies that India is focusing on – at the minute – are Skype and Google, one a VoIP provider, the other a search engine. Both companies will soon be receiving ultimatums to either provide the authorities with data access or risk having their services banned. When it comes to security and telecoms, India isn’t taking no as an answer.

IT security and internet anti-virus experts Symantec have just released the MessageLabs Intelligence Report for August which points to the UK being the fourth worst country in the world for spam output. Not a title you can be proud of.

Since April, Symantec has discovered that the UK has doubled its levels of spam. So the UK alone is responsible for around 4.5% of all the spam in the world. The only other countries that produce more spam than us are India, Brazil and the United States. Well, at least we’re a little bit better than those. So far.

It isn’t just Symantec that has noticed this fact either – last month, a Sophos report also attributed the UK with massive amounts of spam.

A new cyber-scam is causing security experts to warn the general public. The scam involves criminals using iTunes accounts and PayPal to steal from people.

People are increasingly reporting incidents of theft and Apple is, as usual, keeping stum, despite it concerning the company.

Hackers are somehow gaining access to the usernames and passwords of iTunes members and then through that, charging large amounts to the victim’s PayPal account.

PayPal has spoken up to say that any unauthorised payments will be refunded to people. Apple, will most likely remain silent.

Travellers who have plans to go to the United States need to be vigilant as internet and IT security company McAfee warns about fake travel visa sites that are causing problems for travellers.

Any traveller coming from certain countries needs to apply for a US visa waiver which is done on the internet and lasts for two years. Internet criminals are building fake ‘Homeland Security's Electronic System for Travel Authorization’ (or ESTA) sites that are duping travellers into parting with money, downloading malware and by consequence, not getting the required visa waiver.

However, some security experts have noted that it is very easy to be duped as some of the fake sites look a lot more convincing than the actual real site.

Zurich Insurance is once again in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Back in August 2008 the South African arm of the insurance company misplaced an unencrypted backup tape and the incident wasn’t found out by Zurich Insurance for a whole year.

Now, Zurich Insurance has just been handed the largest fine ever given by the Financial Services Authority – a huge £2.28 million. The fine was given after it was revealed that Zurich had lost the personal details of 46,000 customers who could be exposed to burglary and fraud now. After the 2008 incident, Zurich said it highlighted its need for better data security. But it looks as though this fell by the wayside.

Internet giant Google has issued a number of patches in a new security update for its Chrome internet browser. The new security update fixes nine vulnerabilities that have been discovered within the browser and also a Windows vulnerability too. The security update is for the latest Chrome version - 5.0.375.127.

Out of the vulnerabilities, two have been rated as critical by Google, six are high risk and the last one has been categorised as a medium risk. Google has advised users to install the updates as soon as possible otherwise computers could be left open to malicious attacks.