[p2p-research] Fwd: [Dewayne-Net] Federal Trade Commission links wide data breach to file sharing

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gordon Cook <cook at cookreport.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 1:30 AM
Subject: Fwd: [Dewayne-Net] Federal Trade Commission links wide data breach
to file sharing
To: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>


SIGH  :-(

Begin forwarded message:

*From: *dewayne at warpspeed.com (Dewayne Hendricks)
*Date: *February 23, 2010 10:24:59 AM EST
*To: *Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy at warpspeed.com>
*Subject: **[Dewayne-Net] Federal Trade Commission links wide data breach to
file sharing*

Federal Trade Commission links wide data breach to file sharing

The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that it has uncovered widespread
data breaches at companies, schools and local governments whose employees
are swapping music, software and movie files over the Internet.

The consumer protection agency said it sent nearly 100 letters to
organizations where information on customers and employees -- including
health and financial data and Social Security and driver's license numbers
-- leaked through peer-to-peer Web services. It warned that the security
breaches could lead to identity fraud or theft, and it recommended that the
groups review their policies and inform affected users. "Unfortunately,
companies and institutions of all sizes are vulnerable to serious
P2P-related breaches, placing consumers' sensitive information at risk," FTC
Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a news release. The agency said it has
launched separate investigations of some companies as a result of its
file-swapping inquiry, but it declined to name those firms or detail the
scope of the probes. "Companies should take a hard look at their systems to
ensure that there are no unauthorized P2P file-sharing programs and that
authorized programs are properly configured and secure," he said. Privacy
and consumer advocates have long urged regulators to address the risks posed
by peer-to-peer networks. They say that, for example, an employee at a
commercial firm could inadvertently publicize unsecured customer data by
using a work computer to download music from a Web service such as
BitTorrent, BearShare or LimeWire. Those and other peer-to-peer protocols
allow users to grab unsecured files from other users' computers. Unless a
company protects its data, many sensitive files could get in the wrong
hands.

<
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022204889.html
>

Courtesy of the Benton Foundation <http://www.benton.org>RSS Feed: <
http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>





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