Monday Morning News Kick Off: Congress Under Cyber Attack; FTC Appeals Rule on ID Theft; and Much More

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from the ITAC blog. As there is never a shortage of identity theft, cyber security and data breach news, we try our best to compile all the latest stories for you in one convenient location. This week, we offer a number of stories including the FTC challenging a court ruling that could give physicians relief from the “red flags” regulations, as well as an enlightening story from Politico about how Congress receives a slew of cyber attacks on an ongoing basis (no surprise there!).

FTC Appeals Ruling on Identity Theft – Red Flags
The Federal Trade Commission has challenged a court ruling that, if it stands, could give physicians some relief from regulations requiring implementation of formal identity theft prevention programs by June 1. In February, the FTC appealed a December 2009 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that found the agency exceeded its authority in enforcing its “red flags” rule against lawyers. The American Bar Assn., which initiated the litigation, noted in a statement that the appellate court upheld a similar ruling against the FTC once before. Read the full American Medical News article here.

Congress Vulnerable to Online Attacks
Congress is under constant attack. But the assailants aren’t just partisan adversaries, special interests or foreign agents. These predators come armed with bytes and have names like Trojan, Spybot and Worm. In short, Congress has a cybersecurity problem that ranges from foreign governments stealing information off BlackBerrys to unwitting aides e-mailing sensitive information from their secure office computers to more-vulnerable terminals at home. Some security experts even look with suspicion at the very origins of the House e-mail system. An Israeli company manages the project. The equipment is Canadian. A French company makes the switchers. An Indian company wrote the code. And a Chinese company wrote the backup code. Read the full Politico article here.

Cybersecurity Needs Global Rules: British Lawmakers
Europe’s online security would best be served by developing global cyber regulation, ending current “ad hoc” international efforts, British lawmakers said on Wednesday, echoing industry calls for worldwide rules. In a report, a committee of parliament’s upper chamber said that creating a common European-wide approach, while a desirable step in the right direction, was seen by many in the cyber community as “second best” to global regulation. Read the full Washington Post/Reuter’s article here.

Moscow Gets Tough on Cybercrime as ID Theft Escalates
Russia has quietly arrested several suspects in one of the world’s biggest cyberbank thefts, raising hopes of a previously unseen level of official co-operation in a country that has been a haven for criminals. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)has detained suspects including Viktor Pleshchuk, an alleged mastermind behind a £6m (€6.6m, $9m) attack on the payment processing unit of Royal Bank of Scotland, said people familiar with the inquiry. The FSB asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US, which has made the inquiry an international priority, to avoid scaring other targets in Russia into covering their tracks. Read the full Financial Times article here.