Regulation vs Innovation

One of the ongoing discussions in the United States focuses on the need for regulation versus the need to free business from restrictive laws that would hinder innovation. There are many sources that provide strong arguments for both sides. You only have to look as far as the current state of patent regulations and recent lawsuits involving tech giants Samsung and Apple to see the impact these laws make within the industry. ...

April 7, 2013 · 2 min · 419 words · icarnaghan

Identity Theft and Inexperienced Internet Users

Identity theft has been a growing concern over the last decade. In recent years it has become a major problem for many as the Internet has taken over much of the day to day banking many traditionally did at their physical located branches. Is there however a bigger concern with less knowledgeable and inexperienced Internet users, and are these users at a higher risk of becoming victims of identity theft? ...

April 6, 2013 · 3 min · 536 words · icarnaghan

Online Anonymity: Good or Bad?

Anonymity on the Internet provides an important layer of protection for people to express themselves online, while keeping their real life identity private. It has led to both positive as well as negative implications over the years and there has been much discussion on the benefits and drawbacks on both sides. ...

April 6, 2013 · 3 min · 525 words · icarnaghan

Financial Sector Cybersecurity Regulations

(Bidgoli, 2006) describes the statutory approach in the United States as being sectorial in nature “because the laws are drawn along industry lines.” This contrasts other parts of the world, such as the European Union, which has a non-sectorial approach where, for example a comprehensive privacy law applies to all organizations regardless of their industry. ...

April 2, 2013 · 5 min · 857 words · icarnaghan

Hacktivism, Anonymous, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics

In recent years news stories have highlighted the increasing rate of cybercriminal activity targeting both private organizations and government entities. Cases from mischievous amateur hackers managing to exploit basic vulnerabilities, to more advanced security breaches carried out by expert criminal hackers and cybercrime organizations overseas, have grabbed the attention of the media. ...

April 1, 2013 · 12 min · 2480 words · icarnaghan

Mobile Cybersecurity Policies in the Private and Public Sector

“We are moving into a new era of mobile computing, one that promises greater variety in applications highly improved usability, and speedier networking.” Godwin-Jones (2008). This statement rings true for the past five years where mobile computing has seen a massive explosion in growth. ...

March 27, 2013 · 15 min · 3108 words · icarnaghan

Hacking as an Addiction

Hacking can be broken into several categories, including criminal hacking where the perpetrator is motivated by some tangible gain, usually monetary. There are other forms of hacking which are driven by other factors such as political reasons. ...

March 23, 2013 · 3 min · 487 words · icarnaghan

Motivation and Intent of Hackers

Just over a decade ago I began learning about web technologies and found myself learning basic HTML. I was excited when I managed to publish my first website, which was no more than a basic homepage with some external links. ...

March 22, 2013 · 3 min · 486 words · icarnaghan

Ethical vs Non-Ethical Hackers

In their paper on understanding risks associated with hackers/crackers, (Smith, & Rupp 2002) discuss the various types of classification hackers have been placed into by different authors over the years. ...

March 21, 2013 · 3 min · 605 words · icarnaghan

Will the Mandiant Report Raise Public Awareness?

The Mandiant report: APT1: Exposing One of China’s Cyber Espionage Units, has stirred up a lot of media attention over the past few weeks. The report was originally released to show evidence that a specific Chinese military unit has been behind many major Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) within the United States. ...

March 8, 2013 · 2 min · 356 words · icarnaghan