Robert Pleasant
Latest from Robert Pleasant
Review: Facebook 360 and VR Gear create a virtual vacation | #F82016
Facebook is helping bring virtual reality into reality with the Oculus Rift and Gear VR. But what happens when they bring reality into the virtual realm? I found out first hand at this week’s F8, Facebook’s developer event. One of the company’s forays into the virtual reality field is in Facebook 360, which combines the ...
What to do when personal data is posted online: Tips for Turkey (and the rest of us)
If you’ve ever wondered just how many people can be affected by a single data breach, a good estimate would be “about half the population of Turkey.” Or rather, that is the reality right now, as a database containing the personal information of nearly 50 million Turkish citizens has been posted online, putting them all ...
Trumped again: Hackers take on Trump hotels, steal customers’ credit card info
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has had a few choice words to say about the United States’ cyber security, but his own record isn’t spotless either. His hotel chain has just suffered a data breach, resulting in credit fraud for customers who have stayed at any of several Trump Hotel Collection properties. According to Gizmodo ...
FBI prophecy comes true as hackers target law firms for insider trading
It’s lawyers vs. hackers, so you’d think the jokes would write themselves, but this is no laughing matter. A number of prestigious law firms have been the victims of hacking and data theft, and several more have been threatened, although exactly what information has been stolen is not yet known. Earlier this month, the FBI ...
Singin’ the phishing scam blues: Grand Ole Opry sees tax data stolen
It’s phishing season, and the latest catch comes from Ryman Hospitality Properties. The Nashville-located company, parent to several entertainment brands, the Grand Ole Opry, resort hotels, and a golf course, was hit with a scam that stole W-2 information from multitudes of employees. As with most phishing scams, it began with an email. It appeared ...
Tax phishing scam goes to school, as one college learns a hard lesson
It’s a sad day for faculty and employees at Tidewater Community College (TCC). The Virginia-based college was recently the victim of a spear-phishing attack, and the attacker walked away with the tax information of around 3,000 employees. At some point earlier in the month, according to SC Magazine, a school employee received an email from ...
What is Oracle Cloud at Customer, and what’s it mean for the datacenter?
This is a big week for Oracle’s cloud angle, the latest being a new family of offerings that provide CIOs with choices for enterprise software deployment, and what Oracle calls an easy path for moving applications to the cloud. This new family of offerings is referred to as Oracle Cloud at Customer. It’s designed to make ...
Verizon data breached as hacker steals customer contact info
Verizon’s annual data breach investigation reports are excellent looks at how cyber attacks happen and how to defend against them, so one would expect Verizon’s own cyber defenses to be effective. But nothing is completely hacker-proof yet, as Verizon itself has learned. Verizon Enterprise Solutions has been dealt a painful blow by a data breach, ...
Coding error exposes Walmart pharmacy customer data
Walmart customers who frequent the online pharmacy should take caution, as a recent data leak has exposed consumer data. During migration to a new server, a software coding error left online pharmacy customers’ data unprotected and exposed for a three-day period. According to internetRETAILER, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. confirmed that personal information for up to 5,000 ...
Outdated security leads to a USA Cycling hack
USA Cycling has taken a crash into hot water, after a recent hack and data breach has compromised its members’ data. The cycling organization, recognized by the International and United States Olympic Committees, has reported what it describes as a “data security incident,” which has put the personal information of its users at risk and ...