How do hackers grab your personal data out of thin air? Agent Peterson said one of the most common types of attack is this: a bogus but legitimate-looking Wi-Fi network with a strong signal is strategically set up in a known hot spot…and the hacker waits for nearby laptops to connect to it. At that point, your computer—and all your sensitive information, including user ID, passwords, credit card numbers, etc.—basically belongs to the hacker. The intruder can mine your computer for valuable data, direct you to phony webpages that look like ones you frequent, and record your every keystroke.

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If you are an employer, you want the best employment background check that money can buy, unless your budget does not allow it. As a Human Resource manager, you search the internet for the background check that offers the most coverage, provides the most detail and will still fit within the budget set forth by management. This typically leads you to looking for a “nationwide” criminal background check, because after all, if it is nationwide then it must be the best! Sadly, these checks are far from the best, and in many cases may cause employers to hire an applicant with a record and place their company at a higher risk for lawsuits. Read more…

Is your DBA a spy? Don’t fall victim to internal security threats

October 27, 2006 (Computerworld) — Probably 80% of the threats to corporate data come from outside the company walls, but organizations should have those pretty well under control today,” says Jerald Murphy, senior vice president and director of research operations at The Robert Frances Group. Read more…