New York Announces Data Privacy Day To Protect Residents From Identity Theft
Governor David A. Paterson and several New York State agencies are today joining with government officials from across the United States and 27 European countries, privacy professionals, academics, legal scholars, representatives of international businesses, and others to promote understanding of privacy best practices and rights through the observance of National Data Privacy Day. As part of the commemoration, Governor Paterson issued a proclamation declaring January 28, 2010 Data Privacy Day in New York State. Governor Paterson noted that the New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB), the State’s Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) and the State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination (CSCIC) are all working to protect residents from identity theft and to address consumer and business concerns regarding data privacy and security issues. Read the full Gov Monitor article here.

Can We Stop the Global Cyber Arms Race?
In a speech this month on “Internet freedom,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decried the cyberattacks that threaten U.S. economic and national security interests. “Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation,” she warned, alluding to the China-Google kerfuffle. We should “create norms of behavior among states and encourage respect for the global networked commons.” Perhaps so. But the problem with Clinton’s call for accountability and norms on the global network — a call frequently heard in policy discussions about cybersecurity — is the enormous array of cyberattacks originating from the United States. Until we acknowledge these attacks and signal how we might control them, we cannot make progress on preventing cyberattacks emanating from other countries. Read the full Washington Post Op-Ed here.

Critical Infrastructure Vulnerable To Attack
Executives at corporate operators of critical infrastructure — power, water, oil, telecom, finance, and transportation companies — say that their networks face relentless attacks from cybercriminals and foreign governments, a situation that amounts to an undeclared cyberwar. Last week, McAfee, a security vendor, published a cyber security report authored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a public policy research group. Read the full InformationWeek article here.

Many Haitians Concerned About Identity Theft
Victims of Haiti’s earthquake are dealing with yet another painful reality as they struggle to get back on their feet. Many have no identification to prove who they are and they’re afraid they could become victims of identity theft. There are tiny signs that life is slowly returning to normal in Haiti. However, there are even bigger signs of just how slow that recovery is. Read more here.

Internal Data Breaches a Rarity, Study Finds
Internal data breaches might keep CSOs awake at night, but they appear to be a rare event, a university analysis of reported UK compromises has found. In the UK Security Breach Investigations Report the University of Bedfordshire crunched data on incidents reported to forensics firm 7Safe, finding that the overwhelming majority came from external sources. Of the 62 breaches 7Safe was called in to investigate across a range of sectors, 80 percent were found to be external in origin, 18 percent came from business partners, leaving only 2 percent to be blamed on insiders. Read the full ComputerWorld article here.