The fact that the phrase to google someone has become a standard part of our language in recent years is clear evidence that Google remains the dominant force in the fierce competition among the various public search engines, and the introduction this year of Microsofts Bing service highlights the ongoing drive by search engine providers to index and access vast amounts of data more rapidly. Unfortunately, it continues to be the case that a significant portion of this data is personal, sen...

A few months ago, at a peer institution, a laptop containing names and Social Security numbers of 45,000 students, faculty and staff was stolen. This was not an isolated incident. More and more data breaches are occurring as a result of lost or stolen laptops. Data is also at risk when it is stored on an unsecured desktop. The best way to avoid risks to sensitive data, to individuals, and to Penn is simply not to download sensitive data unless you absolutely must. Your Local Suppo...

One of the "holy grails" coveted by hackers when they compromise a system is the file which contains the passwords for all the users on that system. The passwords are stored in encrypted form, of course, but if a hacker can decode or "crack" the encryption the reward is a valuable set of user credentials, especially if the system in question is a large, heavily used server. "Crackers Dictionaries" have been used for this purpose for several years, and these typicall...

You have often heard the strong caution, "dont share your PennKey," but you may not know why. Here are some important reasons. First, your PennKey and your PennKey password protect your information. PennKey is the authentication system for logging on to many websites at Penn, including U@Penn, and viewing your personal data. Anyone with your PennKey and password can look up your pay, tax-related information, and other data that you probably want to keep private. Second, the PennK...

The success of Sweden's Pirate Party prompts a reflection on the reasons for copyright law. The Swedish party now holds a seat in the 2009 European Parliament and Pirate Parties in 33 countries decry patents and advocate for decriminalizing file sharing. Copyright law traces back to English law. With the Statute of Anne in 1710, Parliament limited the monopoly enjoyed by Crown-chartered publishing and bookselling guilds with fixed term limits. Framers of the US Constitution distrusted sanctioned monopol...

Did you know that during the annual Employee Resource Fair, Penn's shredding vendor, Nova Records Management, will shred personal papers free of charge for Penn employees? This shredding service provides a great opportunity to reduce risks such as the possibility of identity theft by securely disposing of confidential papers that are no longer needed. A related Penn vendor, Gigabiter, will securely shred pe...