El problema de Target y las tarjetas: Hay que agregar esto al vocabulario diario (BusinessWeek)

Cybersecurity

Worried About the Target Breach? Add This Term to Your Vocabulary

By Dune Lawrence                                                                                        January 14, 2014

When Target (TGT) announced a breach of customer data in December, tens of millions of people who shop there had to worry that hackers had stolen their financial information. When the company’s chief executive officer admitted on Monday that the problem was malware in its credit-card reading system, businesses had even more cause to worry.

From the smallest corner store to the biggest big-box retailer, pretty much anyone selling anything has to have what’s called a “point-of-sale” system for reading and processing customers’ credit and debit cards in our increasingly cashless economy.

As a merchant, you’d better make sure shoppers trust that they’re not exposing themselves to identity theft and credit-card fraud every time they swipe. Even Target, a huge company with big bucks to spend on security, hasn’t managed to assure such certainty.

STORY: Target's Data Breach Just Got Much Worse

Here’s where “RAM Scraping” comes in, and it’s not, as it might sound, something disgusting that happens at the dentist. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to compromise point-of-sale systems. In some cases, thieves attach a physical device to the system to collect card data, which is called “skimming,” according to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S.-CERT), a cyber watchdog that’s part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The second method is for hackers to infect the system with a malicious program that scans for anything that looks like credit-card information as it passes through, data that the hackers then collect remotely. Common types of such malicious code, with names such as Dexter and Stardust, according to U.S.-CERT, are doing the “RAM-scraping,” which refers to the process of scanning a computer server’s system memory—RAM for “random access memory”—for the right kind of information.

What about encryption? Well, as the tech news site Re/code puts it, think of the data as a package being delivered with a lock on it. To see what it contains, you have to unlock it, even if only for a fraction of a second. That’s when the malware hits.

STORY: Is Target to Blame for Its Data Breach? Let the Lawsuits Begin

The Target hack highlights just how hard it is to safeguard consumer data. Target hasn’t disclosed—if it even knows—how the malware got into the system. It could have been just one employee clicking on an innocent-looking but malware-infected e-mail, which then downloaded itself to Target’s corporate network. Or maybe there were unpatched software vulnerabilities in Target’s system.

In its Security Threat Report 2014 (PDF) released in December, the software company Sophos highlighted point-of-sale systems as a growing problem. Many such systems run on Windows; starting in April 2014, no new patches will be available for Windows XP or Office 2003, the report says.

“Despite industry standards that require rapid application of security patches, some of these systems are updated inconsistently, especially in smaller retail environments without sophisticated IT organizations,” the Sophos report says.

Sounds prescient now, though it’s obviously not just mom-and-pop shops that are going to have problems.

Lawrence is a reporter for Bloomberg News in New York.

Cobertura de TV sobre las "Jabas de Navidad de CAMACOL"

El informe Nielsen del resultado de la cobertura de los medios televisivos del Sur de la Florida para la 28° distribución de las “Jabas de Navidad de CAMACOL” que se llevó a cabo en el pasado mes de Diciembre, refleja el  nivel creciente de influencia de ese importante esfuerzo que hacen CAMACOL y todos los contribuyentes a ese evento. Asi mismo, resalta  la importancia del trabajo realizado por todos los que participaron en esos meses de dedicación.

Nielsen Report for Media Coverage (TV Programs) 2013-2012
Item	2013	2012	Dif (+/-)
Total Story Count	53	42	+ 11
Airtime (minutes)	102	84	+ 18
Nielsen Audience (Est.)	5,920,940	5,002,075	+ 918,865
Ad. Equivalence  (30 seconds)	$58,480	$39,650	+$18,830
Total Ad Equivalence (Calculated)	$113,423	$79,300	+$34,123
Total Publicity Value (Calculated)	$340,265	$237,900	+$103,365

Estos números abarcan las emisoras locales de TV en los condados de Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward y parte de Palm Beach y son significativamente crecientes respecto a los del año anterior. 

Open Position with IMPARK

IMPARK is company seeking for a full-time cashier for its operation on 1395 Brickell Avenue. Details:

Hours: mostly 3pm-11pm, but some weekend days possible.

Min one year experience as a parking cashier preferred.

Bilingual is a must – English and Spanish

Must be legally able to work in the US

Microsoft Excel experience is required

Clean verifiable criminal / background check

Pay is between $9-$10.00 per hour depending on experience.

Conservative appearance a must

NO visible tattoos

Full benefit package available after 90 days.

Resumes to : jcrotteau@impark.com

They ask us to request this: 

Please do not come to apply there. They will review resumes and contact those whom on paper fit their criteria

 

Internet Neutrality: Más peleas a la vista (BusinessWeek)

Internet

Verizon's Net Neutrality Victory Means More Fighting to Come

By Joshua Brustein   January 14, 2014

For a small but passionate group of tech-minded policy wonks, the legal battle over net neutrality is the preeminent Internet issue of the year. A federal appeals court on Tuesday invalidated the rules set by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, but did so in such a way that guarantees the action won’t stop in January.

Net neutrality means that the companies controlling the infrastructure of the Internet can’t treat different kinds of Web activity differently. The FCC’s 2010 Open Internet Order (PDF) set out rules for Internet providers that said as much. Verizon Communications (VZ)quickly sued, saying the FCC doesn’t have the authority to regulate the Internet. While Verizon won, the ruling is based on a technicality: The court found that broadband providers aren’t “common carriers,” like telephone companies, and cannot be regulated as such under the law. The FCC retains the underlying power that Verizon wanted to strip away, and the commission has hinted in the past that it could choose simply to change the companies’ classifications.

“What has happened here is this makes things more of a mess than ever,” says Harold Feld of Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that sided with the FCC in the case.

STORY: The Underdog Internet Providers Head to Washington

Since he took over at FCC chairman late last year, Tom Wheeler’s every word has been scrutinized for signs as to how he might approach this issue. A former industry lobbyist, Wheeler has said things in the last few months that have given everyone reason for hope and fear. He has explicitly supported the open Internet rules while saying he is open to new business models, including so-called two-sided markets, hinting at a model by which content companies could pay for some kind of special treatment. He took a wait-and-see attitude when AT&T (T) announced a sponsored data plan that would allow companies to pay to have their services not count against their customers’ data plans.

We’re reaching the end of the tea-leaf-reading era. Barring a successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Wheeler’s commission will need to rewrite its regulations, taking into account both the new legal landscape and its chairman’s own priorities. In a way, Wheeler comes out the winner here, says Roslyn Layton of the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy, a critic of net neutrality rules. “What he wants to do is change the game,” Layton said in a conference call with reporters on Monday. “If I’m the new chairman, I don’t want the day-old bread. I want to make my own imprimatur.”

In the long run, the case could substantially change the economics of the Internet. But neither side of the debate expects to see sweeping changes immediately. Critics of net neutrality rules are primarily concerned about overly powerful federal regulators using broad authority to regulate the Internet. But several analysts in AEI’s conference call admitted there wasn’t anything very offensive about the Open Internet Rules themselves and said they didn’t expect Wheeler’s commission to do much they’d oppose with its new power.

VIDEO: Why European Internet Companies Are Surging

Groups such as Public Knowledge and the net neutrality advocate Free Press, meanwhile, see deals such as AT&T’s sponsored data plan as the seeds of a troublesome move to choke off competition. “The biggest broadband providers will race to turn the open and vibrant Web into something that looks like cable TV,” says Free Press Chief Executive Officer and President Craig Aaron. “They’ll establish fast lanes for the few giant companies that can afford to pay exorbitant tolls and reserve the slow lanes for everyone else.”

Don’t expect Internet service providers to, say, cut off Netflix (NFLX) until it coughs up millions soon, though. Even without specific net neutrality rules, the commission could still choose to go after blatantly anti-competitive behavior.

STORY: AT&T Lets Companies Pick Up the Tab for Data-Hungry Consumers

Brustein is a writer for Businessweek.com in New York.

Seminario del Servicio Comercial de los Estados Unidos: Sistema Automatizado de Exportación

Compradores de Autos Clásicos: Ojo con los falsos (BusinessWeek)

By Leon Mangasarian and Patrick Winters                                                                       January 02, 2014 

In the 1930s, British sports car maker MG manufactured exactly 33 of its vaunted K3 open-top race cars. But if you want to buy one today, there are more than 100 to choose from. No, the defunct manufacturer didn’t restart production. The tripling of the K3 fleet is part of the booming trade in fake antique autos as soaring prices for classic cars spur sophisticated counterfeits. “In the 1990s, I would find one faked car every five years,” says Norbert Schroeder, who verifies classic cars at TUV Rheinland, a Cologne (Germany)-based technical testing company. “Now I find up to five fakes a year.”

Fueling the jump in the number of bogus rides is heated demand from well-heeled collectors. Auction values for vintage cars have risen more than sevenfold over the past decade, according to Historica Selecta, a consulting company that specializes in vintage autos. In 2011, British auction house Bonhams sold a 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 for £230,000 ($380,000). That was more than four times the price the same car sold for—in unchanged condition—in 2003, says James Knight, director of the auction house’s motoring department.

Bonhams, which says sales of classic cars now exceed $1 billion annually, in July 2013 sold a 1954 Mercedes-Benz F1 race car for a world record price of £19.6 million. And at a Dec. 1 auction it sold dozens of pricey vintage autos, including a 1964 Porsche 904 GTS racing coupe for £1.15 million, a 1959 Aston Martin DB4GT Sports Saloon for £1.57 million, and a 1956 Jaguar D-Type “Shortnose” for £2.58 million. “People with a lot of money prefer to have a classic car in the garage than money in the bank,” says Adolfo Orsi, president of Historica Selecta.

Video: Sotheby’s Art of the Automobile Auction Makes $62M

That’s one reason criminals are going to unprecedented lengths to grab a piece of the action. Sophisticated forgers have been known to buy old screws and washers and leave reproduced frames out in fields to weather. “When there is a lot of money, there are fakes,” Orsi explains. “In today’s world, it is possible to replicate everything.”

Bernhard Kaluza, vice president of international antique auto club Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA), says counterfeiters even bought an old movie theater in France to get the worn antique leather from the seats. “The people faking cars are not a few lone wolves,” says TUV’s Schroeder, who’s traveled as far as California to authenticate cars, evaluating welded joints and chemically testing the metal to determine its age. “It’s organized crime, because it’s expensive to build such cars and you need a good infrastructure to do it.”

Christian Jenny, retired chief information officer of Zurich Insurance Group, spent five years proving his rare 1952 Jaguar C-Type racer was authentic after another car came on the market claiming the same identification number. The owner of 13 vintage Jaguars consulted many experts, including Norman Dewis, chief test engineer for the British luxury brand for more than 30 years. With the car valued at about $2.5 million, a lot was at stake. “It might be a problem if you tried to sell the car years later,” Jenny says. Verifying it was “a precautionary measure.”

Slideshow: An Italian Auto Design Master's Second Act

Authenticaton can require sleuthing. Simon Kidston, a classic-car consultant in Geneva, was once offered an Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ racer from the 1960s by a seller who claimed to have discovered it in a scrap yard in Italy. After consulting numerous sources, Kidston eventually discovered a photo of a car with the same identification number that was involved in a fiery crash at the annual Sebring 12-hour endurance race in 1964. The driver barely escaped. “It was clear there could be nothing left of the original car,” says Kidston, who rejected the offer.

Many frauds are more subtle, like taking an authentic vintage Porsche 911 and turning it into a high-performance racing version, which could quadruple the car’s value. Other scammers take authentic parts and build a vehicle around them, making the line between refurbished and forged murky. “There are plenty of adapted cars,” says Bonhams’s Knight. “Fake has another meaning: It’s trying to deceive.”

The extent of classic-car fraud is difficult to track because few victims come forward. Still, to prevent the threat of counterfeits from discrediting the whole market, FIVA has proposed issuing a standardized verification document for each antique car, Kaluza says, to improve transparency and help keep buyers from getting duped. “The whole problem of faked classic cars is being treated warily” because people in the market “don’t want to ruin the good mood,” Schroeder says. “I want to speak out on this before the whole thing blows up.”

The bottom line: Selling vintage cars has become a $1 billion-a-year business. Counterfeiters have taken notice.

Mangasarian is a reporter for Bloomberg News in Berlin.

Winters is a reporter for Bloomberg News in Zurich.