By IT-Lex Intern Joey Chindamo (LinkedIn)

Poker—a game of luck or skill? Some courts have weighed in, calling it a game of skill. But that analysis applied to live games between real people playing with real cards. What about video poker? Simply pressing buttons on a video poker machine doesn’t require skill, right? For both John Kane and Andre Nestor, luck followed by skill led to big pay days—and big trouble.  » Read the rest of this entry «

By IT-Lex Intern Nicole Sellers (LinkedIn)

Earlier this month, the FBI announced the arrest of Micheal Meneses, a software programmer with a severe grudge against his former employer. According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Meneses had been employed as a software programmer and systems manager by the company until January 2012. He apparently became increasingly upset when he was passed over for numerous promotions, eventually deciding to tender his resignation. No one knew, though, that Mr. Meneses was not planning on leaving quietly.

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It has been a while since we’ve posted about data security at IT-Lex, so here’s a malware story for you. Perhaps you’re familiar with bitcoin, the online currency that has been getting an increasing amount of attention lately. Paul Krugman wrote something of a primer in the NYT, and Forbes magazine called it “a compelling concept that offers a window into a potentially profound paradigm shift in how we think about the future of money on the web.” But as with any facet of online life, especially those that have actual tangible (monetary) value, there are security risks to be expected.

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You may recall Eric’s recent post here, about whether big companies have a legal and/or ethical requirement to report data breaches to the SEC. As he concluded, you’re supposed to disclose “material” data breaches, but the definition of the word “material” is left wide open. Last week, a Wall Street Journal article and video highlighted a new trend in breach disclosures – bringing in the lawyers. Nationwide Insurance, which suffered a pretty substantial cybersecurity hit last fall, has retained the services of a big law firm to investigate. Why? As The Verge writes:

[Nationwide] has hired a legal firm to conduct an investigation of the security breach, granting the results the protected secrecy of attorney-client privilege… The new practice is being adopted by many companies that have fallen victim to cyberattacks, leading some law firms to begin specializing in this type of data-breach investigation. Frequently, the legal counsel will contract a data security firm to perform the actual analysis.

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By IT-Lex Intern Shannon Allen (LinkedIn)

Guess where the first ever known cyberattack on a US election happened? Of course you’re correct! It was right here in Florida, the national’s capital when it comes to things going wrong on polling day. From TechNewsWorld:

“Florida has again made election-related headlines — this time for an attempted hacking of online election systems during voting last August in Miami-Dade County. It is the first certified case of an online election attack in the U.S.”

Hey, at least we’re first. That’s something, right?

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By IT-Lex Intern Karina Saranovic (LinkedIn)

Genesco, the parent company to thousands of sport apparel retailers, has hit California-based Visa with a $13 million dollar lawsuit after they (Genesco) were fined by Visa for being hacked. In an effort to battle against the credit card powerhouse’s penalties arising out of data breaches, this case marks the first of its kind to address this system of oversight. From Wired:

Described as “arbitrary” and a “near scam,” credit card companies’ self-regulated PCI [payment card industry] security standards require “businesses accepting credit and debit card payments to implement a series of technological steps to secure card data.”

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By IT-Lex Intern Shannon Allen (LinkedIn)

The New York Times first brought our attention to “the latest lightning rod in the continuing battle between proponents of Internet freedom and the Justice Department.” Boing Boing offers more details:

“Matthew Keys, 26, a social media editor for Reuters, has been indicted on charges that he helped members of Anonymous hack the Tribune Co. network in order to deface the Los Angeles Times website.”  Keys was apparently “outed by the prominent former member of Anonymous known as Sabu who became a snitch for the FBI following his own arrest last year,” reports Kim Zetter at Wired News. Here is the indictment (PDF).”

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By IT-Lex Intern Karina Saranovic (LinkedIn)

Mobile malware can attack all devices, but it would appear that Android phones appear to be the main victims lately. It’s unclear whether this surge in malware cases is due to Android’s domination in the market as the most popular smartphone platform, or just because its system is easier to attack. The statistics point toward the latter, since Apple’s iOS system, the second most popular platform, has been afflicted with only a fraction of Android’s malware cases.

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In one of our very earliest posts here at IT-Lex, we discussed the LinkedIn security breach, where six million passwords (without the accompanying usernames) were stolen by hackers. Back then, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company, with the allegation that LinkedIn’s security system was weak, and ran contrary to the social network’s promise that ”personal information you provide will be secured in accordance with industry standard protocols and technology.” Last week, a district court judge in California dismissed the case.  » Read the rest of this entry «

By IT-Lex Intern Eric Everson (Twitter)

A recent CNBC piece pointed to a very simple question: If you are a publicly traded company, do you have an obligation to disclose in your SEC filings that you have been hacked?

As Eamon Javers reports:

“Only a limited number of companies disclosed cyberattacks occurring in 2012, CNBC found after a review of 2012 SEC filings. That’s even though the SEC specifically asked companies to reveal significantly damaging attacks in guidance the commission issued to companies in the fall of 2011.”

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