[IS&T Security-FYI] SFYI Newsletter, January 23, 2012

[Monique Yeaton]

In this issue:


1. IAP: Data Protection @ MIT

2. Password Sharing: A Sign of Love

3. 2012 Will See Rise in Cyber-Espionage and Malware

4. Tips for Facebook's Timeline Feature



---------------------------------------

1. IAP: Data Protection @ MIT

---------------------------------------


There is one more chance to attend the Data Protection @ MIT session provided for IAP: Thursday, Jan. 26 @ 1-2:30 pm in E17-121


This session addresses two main questions: “What is MIT doing to protect sensitive data?” and “What can each of us do to protect sensitive data at MIT?” Learn about measures for handling, sharing, storing, and destroying information that requires protection by law. Bring your questions and feel free to participate in the discussion. No registration required, just show up.



----------------------------------------------

2. Password Sharing: A Sign of Love

----------------------------------------------


Several stories have made it into the news this month about the sharing of passwords among young couples. A sharing phenomenon among youngsters that used to be quaint (sharing school jackets, exchanging class rings as a token of one's affection) has moved in to the digital era. Boyfriends and girlfriends share passwords to email, Facebook and other accounts, some even create identical passwords.


The trust in each other is to be commended. However, when a relationship sours, this can cause quite some damage. With access to each other's correspondence, they can share intimate secrets with others, or begin a distrustful scouring of the other's emails and texts to see if there's been infidelity. They could even use the other's accounts to send messages as them.


Read the full story in the news<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/teenagers-sharing-passwords-as-show-of-affection.html?pagewanted=all>.



----------------------------------------------------------------------

3. 2012 Will See Rise in Cyber-Espionage and Malware

----------------------------------------------------------------------


Security experts expect to see a continuing trend in the rise of malware-based attacks that result in sensitive data being stolen from government agencies, defense contractors, Fortune 500 companies, human rights organizations and other institutions.


Threats like Stuxnet and Duqu are likely to escalate in 2012 and defending against them requires aggressive protection technologies and people training. "People still represent the weakest link in security for a large amount of enterprises and that is the reason they are targeted," says Rik Ferguson, director of security research and communication at security firm Trend Micro.


There should be a shift in protection paradigms and more control should be put around the data source, Amichai Shulman, CTO at security firm Imperva believes.


Read the full story in the news<http://www.pcworld.com/article/247008/2012_will_see_rise_in_cyberespionage_and_malware_experts_say.html>.



---------------------------------------------------

4. Tips for Facebook's Timeline Feature

---------------------------------------------------


Some of my friends on Facebook have been worried about the Timeline<https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline> feature. As good cyber citizens they are wary whenever a new feature is introduced that might reveal more personal information than they would prefer.


The most worrisome part of Timeline is that friends can view a digital comprehensive history of your life. As an article at http://netsecurity.about.com<http://netsecurity.about.com/od/securityadvisorie1/a/How-To-Secure-Your-Facebook-Timeline.htm> states: "Law enforcement, potent employers, stalkers, and others who review Facebook profiles will love the timeline as they can navigate life histories with ease."


If you are using the Facebook Timeline (you must enable it to have it), or you wish to use it in the future, I suggest reading the full http://netsecurity.about.com article<http://netsecurity.about.com/od/securityadvisorie1/a/How-To-Secure-Your-Facebook-Timeline.htm> to see how you can secure your personal information. It explains what the security and privacy implications are when you enable the new feature and provides some tips to ensure that what should be private remains private.



===================================================================================

Read all Security FYI Newsletter articles and submit comments online at http://securityfyi.wordpress.com/.

===================================================================================


Monique Yeaton
IT Security Communications Consultant
MIT Information Services & Technology (IS&T)
(617) 253-2715
http://ist.mit.edu/security


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/ist-security-fyi/attachments/20120123/d08e105e/attachment.htm