So I have the new ADT Pulse system. It’s pretty amazing. I’ve had a “plain old” system for the past 15 years, which has been upgraded 3 times. The standard home alarm system covers monitoring, doors, windows, motion and glass.

This system has all that plus wireless cameras inside, remote controlled thermostats, remote controlled/timed light controls, flood sensors in the mechanical room and laundry, full web access to the cameras, an iPad looking touchpad that controls it, an iPhone app to control/monitor its cameras/stat it from anywhere, and a web dashboard that lets you control every single aspect of each control to inform you of activity or to set up a “reaction” to an incident.

This home alarm system is very simple and easy to program and once you dive into the system it give you a tremendous amount of “awareness” of the goings on in and around your home and it does it automatically.

I haven’t spent a lot of time on the programming just yet, but just by default the basic settings will alert you via text and email whenever anything happens. You also have the

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A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would update the state’s current data breach notification law, SB-1386.  The new bill would include additional requirements for organizations that lose sensitive data.  This is the third time the bill has been proposed.

The proposal, introduced Thursday by Democratic state Senator Joe Simitian would require breach notification letters contain specifics of the incident.  This would include the type of personal information exposed, a description of what happened, and advice on steps to take to protect oneself from identity theft. The new law would also require organizations suffering a breach affecting 500 or more people to submit a copy of the alert letter to the state attorney general’s office.

The proposed bill has gone to former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger twice now, but both times was vetoed. 

Simitian said in a news release that he hopes the new administration, led by Governor Jerry Brown, “will give this issue a fresh look.”

“This new measure makes modest but helpful changes for consumers,” Simitian said. “By requiring n

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Early adopters of new technology often discover bugs, quirks, imperfections, and security issues before a product is widely adopted. That’s why I usually wait six to eight months for companies to fix their flaws.

Researchers discovered they could hack into Internet-ready HDTV’s. One of the top five best-selling TVs left its security process vulnerable to attack, allowing a hacker to compromise the data transmitted between the TV and websites that provide content. The report states that any website could be spoofed, and the spoofed site made to appear onscreen. The fake site could resemble a video download site, for example, and request credit card information for a movie purchase. Researchers also found that they were able to monitor data being sent from the TV to the Internet.

The New York Times reports:

“[This] test also illustrates what security experts have long warned: that the arrival of Internet TVs, smartphones and other popular Web-ready gadgets will usher in a new era of threats by presenting easy targets for hackers. As th

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Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from the ITAC blog.  There have been a number of stories this week that point to the simple fact that hackers are gaining traction, momentum and some would even say getting more powerful.

We recently wrote a post about a PandaLabs report that highlights how hackers are getting able to be more financially successful these days. And, as we all know, were there are dollars people will follow — even if that have a weaker morale code than the rest of us. On top of that, we also did a post about a report from Symantec that stated that cyber attack toolkits are becoming more accessible and easier to use, allowing criminals with little technical expertise to turn to cybercrime. As a result, the company believes that the incidence of cybercrime is set to increase with the proliferation of this pre-made hacking software that will be used by less sophisticated criminals.

And, finally hackers have broadened their reach beyond Windows and are focusing now on smart phones, tablet computers, and mobile platforms. Sinc

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