Skip to main content

The WiKID Blog

Viewing posts from January, 2009

authentication-article-on-searchsoftwarequality

I forgot to mention that I have an article up on SearchSoftwareQuality: Stronger authentication needed for Web applications. Here's the gist:

In this article we consider three authentication processes in a typical complex Web application that requires security, such as online banking or brokerage transactions:

banking-group-sues-tjx

In an interesting development in the economics of information security and data breaches, a group of banks is suing TJX for "negligent misrepresentation". According to Massachusetts Bankers Association CEO Daniel Forte:

"Banks all across the nation re-issued debit cards as a result of the TJX data breach. Preliminary estimates of the costs vary from institution to institution, up to $25 dollars per card," MBA officials said in a statement. "This alone would run into many millions of dollars for banks throughout the country. Moreover, when fraud occurs, banks generally cover the entire fraud, replacing money in customer accounts to protect their customers."
The banks, which once owned Visa, the creator of the PCI data security standards, now recognize that there costs are an externality in that system. The tort system is a pretty good system for dealing with externalities. Unfortunately for those who like to have real data on these matters, if the case is settled out of court, we probably won't know how much it actually costs TJX. I continue to believe it will not affect their brand or sales , but it will hurt their stock price as would any expenses that do not generate revenue.

bank-security-article-published

Please check out the article I wrote for Bankinfosecurity.com: Reducing Online Banking Fraud with Stronger Authentication Methods

strong-authentication-for-the-masses

WiKID got a nice review over at the Coffee Corner. I hope they do test the WiKID server on your home network. That is exactly the scenario we envisioned when we released the open source version. No reason why home users shouldn't be able to have strong authentication. I do want tot try to clarify some of the issues, if I understand them correctly:

schneier-questions-need-for-himself

I read with delight this quote from omnipresent security pundit Bruce Schneier questioning the reasons for the existance of the security industry:

"We shouldn't have to come and find a company to secure our e-mail. E-mail should already be secure. We shouldn't have to buy from somebody to secure our network or servers. Our networks and servers should already be secure."

Recent Posts

Archive

2024
2022
2021
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008

Categories

Tags

Authors

Feeds

RSS / Atom