Who’s doing it and what’s being done to prevent it

by Zack Martin, Editor, Avisian Publications

Hacking can mean many things. The image it conjures for most is that of a young man in a dark room lit by nothing more than the glow of a computer monitor, trying to break into some top-secret government system or steal credit card numbers.

On college campuses hacking can mean a number of different things and threats can come from students as well as outsiders. Hackers attack university databases and systems but they also are targeting the student ID card.

Several high-profile incidents have hit close to home with the campus card community, but securing cards isn’t enough. Universities need to secure payment and IT networks as well or risk data falling into the hands of hackers. 

Hackers broke into computer databases and potentially put at risk personal information of 160,000 students, alumni and others, according to an Associated Press report. In all, 97,000 Social Security numbers were stolen.

The university said data include Social Security numbers, birth dates, health insurance information and some medical records dating back to 1999 were compromised. The databases also included information of parents, spouses and Mills College students who used or were eligible for Berkeley’s health services. Personal medical records, such as patient diagnoses, treatments and therapies, were not compromised, officials said.

Read the full story here.  

The March meeting of the influential Government Smart Card Interagency Advisory Board (IAB) was recently held in Washington D.C. FIPS201.com was on hand to cover the event and has provided, as a service to the IAB and the smart card community, an audio recording of the presentations. Click on the link below to access a list of audio and accompanying PowerPoint slides (in pdf format).

Visit FIPS201.com to hear the presentations and view the slides.  

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is launching a security product for users of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. G&D’s Mobile Security Card integrates with BlackBerry Device Software 5.0, which is planned for launch later this year, and provides customers with an independent cryptographic module that authenticates users and also encrypts information sent to and from a BlackBerry smartphone.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution gives mobile users secure access to their email, calendar, address book, tasks and notes as well as enterprise instant messaging, Web-based applications and services (intranet) and other corporate applications. 

Zvetco Biometrics, a developer of biometric technology, has announced the release of their new USB finger print reader called the Verifi P6000 USB Fingerprint Reader. As an upgrade to its P5000 predecessors, the P6000 has increased gray-scale detail and contrast. Additionally, the P6000 utilizes the TouchChip TCS1 Fingerprint Sensor from biometric developer UPEK. 

Is there an identity crisis in the United States? Panelists on an identity roundtable at CTST conference in New Orleans seem to think there is an the solution is issuing high-level assurance credentials to individuals for identification online.

Peter Alterman, deputy associate administrator for technology strategy at the office of government wide policy at the General Services Administration, said that in the next five years 150 to 200 million high-assurance credentials will be issued to U.S. citizens. It won’t be the government that issues these IDs but the framework the government has created has set the groundwork for the technology that will be deployed.