It soon became apparent that Terlesa Cowart, the court stenograph for Chavianowho’s trial, had transferred the the transcripts to her personal computer and deleted the files from the stenograph. However, Cowart’s personal computer became infected by a virus and all of the files on it were deleted, including the vital transcript notes.

Stenographers are expected to keep two records of the transcripts on both paper and digital disk. Cowart did not follow these regulations as it is believed that she didn’t bring enough rolls of paper to the court case and therefore relied on a digital copy alone.

The Miami Herald has reported that Cowart has been fired after the revelations. It was also reported that her former employer, Goldman Naccarato Patterson Vela & Associates Inc, have claimed that this hasn’t been the only occasion when she has run out of paper during a trial.

As Chavianowho is set to be given a new trial, it will only result in the family and friends of Acosta having to go through the anguish of reliving the event again because of the negligence of one person.

Ed Griffin, Miami-Dade State Attorney’s spokesman stated “The overturning of a murder conviction always means terrible pain for the victim’s family and frustration for prosecutors and police officers.”

As reported, if this wasn’t the only case where Cowart ran out of paper during a trial, there are bound to be concerns whether transcripts are still available from other trials. If it turns out that other transcripts have been lost, it may well result in more than one convicted prisoner being given a new trial.

This latest case of data loss emphasises the importance of backing up important data securely. Long gone are the days where it was satisfactory to keep one copy of an important file, especially on a computer. Hackers have become more sophisticated with their methods and important data is being put at an unnecessary risk of being lost if it hasn’t been backed up.

Data Loss Results in Convicted Murderer Getting a Re-trial is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

The report highlighted the lax attitude which is being adopted by councils with regards to keeping data secure.

There are 1,035 cases of UK councils experiencing data loss between 2008 and 2011. Of particular concern in the report was the exposure of data relating to children, as well as other vulnerable members of society.

One incident in Wales involved Cardiff council wrongly sending the names and addresses of 2,400 children, on the child protection registry, directly to the NHS.

Kent and Buckinghamshire were among the councils which lost the most data, with 72 cases each. Just below them, Northamptonshire and Essex had 48 and 62 cases respectively.

Wales are arguably the worst in the UK at keeping data secure however, with 8 out of 22 councils experiencing data loss in the last three years. This prompted Anne Jones at the ICO in Wales to express “serious concern.”

“It’s vital that local authorities properly live up to their legal responsibilities to keep personal data secure, particularly where it is sensitive information about children and young people” said Jones.

Data loss is becoming increasingly more concerning with more users utilising an ever-increasing array of mobile devices. There is often no remote deletion policy in place for such hardware. In addition with many organisations pushing more of their infrastructure into the Cloud, the urgency to implement tighter security measures has never been more crucial.

Concerning Lack of Data Security Among UK Councils is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

A position is to be created which will regulate privacy issues affecting the public.

The House of Lords made this statement “The Secretary of State shall appoint a Commissioner to be known as the Privacy Commissioner ..It shall be the duty of the commissioner to promote respect for individual privacy.”

The current and weak Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reputably disappointing in following through with its investigations.

“It is a quasi judicial regulator that sees its role as protecting data rather than people,” Privacy International says.

Poor data protection policies within the UK have prompted such discussions. Countless hacking scandals this year are beginning to be addressed, and the value of data being realised.

Although the primary duty of the new Privacy Commissioner would be to ensure individual privacy, data privacy within the business world also needs addressing. This is especially apparent with IT cutbacks and with organisations moving their infrastructures to the cloud.  Addressing the current failures of the ICO is only the start.

“If successful the UK could have a real privacy regulator rather than a weak one that merely oversees data protection,” Privacy International.

New UK Data Privacy Commissioner is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

A survey released by EMC revealed that the UK is not giving DR the focus it arguably merits.

According to the survey 78% of UK organisations have experienced data loss in the last 12 months. This is higher than the European average of 54%.

The affects of IT outages must me made clear to CEOs and other senior board members, in order to ensure that a serious plan is put in place.

Neil Fisher, Vice Chairman of the information Assurance Advisory Council stated:

“DR is about the survival of the business so it should be a board-level issue. Without board backing, the strategy will never work. ”

Data must be classified in terms of importance. For some data sets it may be acceptable to have two days worth of downtime, whereas for others it is unacceptable to have two seconds.

Tony Lock, analyst at research firm Freeform Dynamics emphasises this point:

“Most companies don’t understand the value of different data sets.”

One of the worst ways in which a company can be caught unprepared is through having unrealistic Recovery Time Objectives or Recovery Point Objectives. Inconsistency in backups or poor management can also present significant threats, should a disaster occur.

Organisations must constantly question what could realistically go wrong within their IT environment, and how those events would affect the rest of the business. Companies are often under the false assumption that their DR plan is sufficient, when in many cases it needs seriously addressing.

78% Of British Businesses Experience Data Loss In Last 12 Months. is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

As a result of the attack, a water pump motor burn’t out when it was continuously switched on and off. This is the first time that a foreign hacker has successfully targeted a US industrial facility and gained access to controls. Fortunately for the people living in Illinois, who are dependent on the water from this pump, no supply issues were experienced. However, this hack has proven that the industrial facilities in the US can be breached and has prompted the US authorities to conduct a high-level investigation.

On the 8^th November, a technician revealed that the system had been hacked from a computer in Russia. Joe Weiss, a cyber-security expert, made the incident public knowledge and summed up the attack in the Washington Post stating “This is a big deal.”

It has been reported in the US press that the hackers managed to compromise the company’s database by retrieving thee supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) software. The hackers turned the Scada system on and off which resulted in the water pump motor burning out.

Peter Boogaard, the Homeland security spokesman, has told news agencies that officials have yet to confirm that the water pump burn out was a result of a cyber-attack. Boogaard stated. “At this time there is no credible corroborated data that indicates a risk to critical infrastructure entities or a threat to public safety.”

The Scada systems are vital to the functioning of the US industrial sector as they control water treatment facilities, railway switches, chemical plants and nuclear reactors. As a result of this, they are a prime target for attackers. The devastation that could be caused if the Scada systems are breached again could be on an unimaginable scale.

Scada Systems vulnerability was exposed last year when centrifuges at a uranium facility in Iran were attacked by Stuxnet. This is a virus which targets Scada Systems. US experts came to the conclusion that the virus Stuxnet increased the speed of uranium centrifuges to breaking point, while shutting off safety monitoring systems. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did confirm that the system had been breached and that the virus had “managed to create problems for a limited number of our centrifuges.”

In 2007, researchers at the US government’s Idaho National Laboratories identified a weakness in the electricity grid’s defences and demonstrated the potential damage that a cyber-attacker could inflict on a large diesel generator.

US Water Facility Hacked is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

NSM are currently unsure how many firms have actually been targeted but know that at least ten firms have been affected so far.

These cyber-attacks on Norwegian firms have added the country to an ever growing list of nations that have lost secrets and intellectual information to hackers.

The attackers managed to gain access to corporate networks by sending emails with viruses attached. These had been customised and designed to avoid detection from anti-malware detection systems.  The NSM have revealed that the attackers sent the harmful emails to specific named individuals within firms and had designed the email to look like it had come from a legitimate source.

The companies that were targeted and received the harmful emails are those who they believed were in the process of negotiating large contracts. The data that has been compromised is thought to include usernames, passwords, industrial drawings, contracts and documents. The confidential data that has been stolen has been taken out of the country to an unknown destination.

The NSM believe that the attacks were conducted by one group of people after analysing the methods they used such as the code inside the viruses and how the data was extracted. The NSM has also stated that they are going to publish information about the attacks in an attempt to encourage other targeted firms to come forward and to serve as a warning to other unaffected firms.

In a statement that was released by the NSM, they proclaimed “This is the first time Norway has revealed extensive and wide computer espionage attacks.”

The attacks were discovered when some users discovered that the emails were not from a legitimate source and informed their internal IT security staff. The IT security staff then notified the NSM.

Their major concern for the NSM is that many other companies may well have been hit by these emails and remain unaware that hackers had gained access to their system and stole valuable documents.

Norwegian Firms Lose Confidential Data to Hackers is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research and found that 51% of Americans have experienced a computer crash leading to them loosing all of their digital files.

More than one-third admitted they had never backed up their computers or haven’t done so in the last twelve months.

A staggering 40% of Americans admitted that they would have no way of recovering, recreating or repurchasing such data.

“It is interesting to contrast the way people insure their treasured possessions, like their home and their car, with the ways in which they leave often-irreplaceable digital assets unprotected. Most have experienced at least one major disaster, yet are still not taking simple steps to protect the contents of their computer” David Friend, CEO of Carbonite.

The most common files to be stored by Americans are photos and music. Fifty- five percent of those surveyed stored photos and 46% stored music.

Eighty-two percent of people keep only electronic files on their personal hard drive with the majority of these keeping files nowhere else.

Putting a value on digital data is often difficult but the survey made some interesting comparisons. For instance 50% of Americans would rather loose an entire year of vacation time than loose all of the files on their computer. Thirty-four percent would rather give up wine and beer for a year. Thirty-eight percent would rather loose their wedding ring. Sixty-two percent would pay as much as $500 to retrieve their documents and files while 27% said that they would pay whatever it took.

What Are Your Digital Assets Worth To You? is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

The owner of this online shop goes by the name of Srblche, and he also offers the service of compromising a particular server that his customer wanted to target,

Rob Rachwald, director of security strategy at security firm Imperva, believes that Srblche reside in Kuwait stating “We tracked his Facebook profile.”

Srblche doesn’t seem to be too popular in the hacking community as he has a history of stealing other people’s tools from underground forums in an attempt to profit from them. This is one reason why the group d33ds may have targeted him.

In d33ds announcement about Srblche’s online catalogue being hacked, they stated “Anyone willing to pay for this service must be as stupid as he is.” To further enhance the damage that they have caused to Srblche’s profiteering, the group published information about the server, the hacker’s administrative access code in plain text and the password hashes of his customers.

It is still unknown how d33ds conducted the hack; however, Imperva’s researchers believe that it may have been done by breaking in through another application that is hosted on the same server. They believe that the group hacked Srblche’s online catalogue the same way as they hacked the website RankMyHack.com. Imperva commented “D33ds is the same group that hacked RankMyHack.com. This is how Rank My Hack was breached.”

Rachwald has stated that Imperva is unaware of any case where stolen information sold by Srblche has been used in an attack against an organisation. He also added that it is hard to determine whether this has happened as the attackers generally don’t boast it publicly.

When a hacker gets hacked, there is the increased risk that sensitive data that has been stolen from companies will be made public. If this happens, it could have a detrimental impact on the affected companies.

Rachwald suggests that organisations need to implement several procedures to reduce the likelihood of losing sensitive data. He suggests “They should regularly use Google to search for hints of vulnerabilities on their websites because this is a common practice used by hackers. They should also test their websites with a vulnerability scanner and install a web application firewall.”

Hacker Gets Taste Of His Own Medicine is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

The first scenario that was tested, involved a cyber-attack which attempted to steal secret information from the EU’s security agencies and publish it online. The second scenario was based on an attack which aimed to disrupt energy industry control systems.

The main aim of these tests was for each country to gain a clear understanding of who would be able to support them and what assistance would be available if they were to come under a similar attack.

Professor Udo Helmbrecht from the EU’s security adviser Enisa stated “We have to detect the incident and where it comes from. Then we have the computer emergency response teams in the various countries which have to exchange information and decide what can be done – this will depend in part on legal requirements.”

The event was obviously seen as a success with plans already being made to organise a similar event with Enisa hoping to involve more countries.

This event followed on from a similar one that took place last year which only involved European nations. The outcome from this resulted in the organisers feeling that nations “must increase their efforts”.

As countries throughout the world have started to experience a significant increase of cyber-attacks, weaknesses in the current defensive measure that have been installed are being blown wide open. This has led to confidential data being compromised which has had a detrimental impact on many companies and the economy of their nations.

Neelie Kroes, EU Digital Agenda Commissioner stated “Recent high profile cyber-attacks show that global threats need global action. Today’s exercise provides valuable lessons for specialists on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Professor Helmbrecht supports such claims and states “We have an increase in cyber threats and incidents so we need co-operation. The internet is an important backbone of our society – we use it for business and in our private lives. The more we depend on it, the more we need to share information to protect the infrastructure.”

EU and US Cyber Security Experts Join Forces to Test Defences is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.

The hacks first became known to have happened on Tuesday when Swedish politician William Petzll’s Twitter account was used to publish passwords to email accounts belonging to some well-known journalists.  Petzll has claimed that his Twitter account was hijacked and that he had no involvement in the posts. As a result of this, his Twitter account has been closed.

It has been revealed that the passwords had been taken from the blogging site Bloggtoppen.se which has been vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. Its user database was compromised and published in September on a website called Flashback. Following this, the data was then distributed on Twitter.

The blogging site has now been closed and founder Jimmy Holmlund told Computer Sweden that he was completely unaware of any attacks until the data was published on Twitter.

Computer Sweden has stated that on Wednesday, account details from another 57 websites were published, compromising user account details of over 400,000 people.

This is one of the largest hacks to ever take place in Sweden due to the amount of user account information that has been compromised.

A previous hack that compromised user account details in Sweden occurred in January 2008. 235,000 accounts details were compromised. Computer Sweden believe that the repercussions of this latest hack will be far greater due to more and more people using the same password for several different accounts and therefore making it far easier for intruders to access email accounts and accessing sensitive data.

Hacks In Sweden Compromise More Than 400,000 User Account Details. is a post from Backup Technology's Blog. Contact us today for further information on our Online Backup and Business Continuity services.