By Kevin Coleman, Technolytics Institute

August 26, 2008 — CSO — Separation of duties is a key concept of internal controls and is the most difficult and sometimes the most costly one to achieve. This objective is achieved by disseminating the tasks and associated privileges for a specific security process among multiple people.

The term SoD is already well-known in financial accounting systems. Companies in all sizes understand not to combine roles such as receiving checks (payment on account) and approving write-offs, depositing cash and reconciling bank statements, approving time cards and have custody of pay checks, etc. However, SoD is fairly new to the IT organization…

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player — too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

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Council have been accused of using surveillance powers to pry into residents sex lives.

By James Kirkup
Last Updated: 5:35PM BST 24 Aug 2008

The Conservatives say local government officials are monitoring couples’ sleeping arrangements for council tax purposes.

They have released documents they say shows that councils are invading households’ privacy to check on claims for council tax discounts.

More than 7.5 million people claim a 25 per cent discount on their council tax bill because they live alone

Councils are responsible for verifying that people who claim to live alone really do so.

A “surveillance dossier” used by Rotherham Council and released under freedom of information laws has shown how claims are checked.

The document suggests officials undertake “surveillance” of cars registered to addresses “to substantiate the allegation of living together”.

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A criminal gang is using software tools normally reserved for computer network administrators to infect thousands of PCs in corporate and government networks with programs that steal passwords and other information, a security researcher has found.

The new form of attack indicates that little progress has been made in defusing the threat of botnets, networks of infected computers that criminals use to send spam, steal passwords and do other forms of damage, according to computer security investigators.

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Gary McKinnon could become the first British hacker extradited to the U.S. for allegedly deleting data and accessing information on U.S. military and NASA computers

A British hacker fighting extradition to the U.S. on computer hacking charges is preparing for his final U.K. appeal on Monday in London.

If Gary McKinnon loses this appeal, he would be the first British hacker extradited to the U.S. He could face up to 60 years in prison.

McKinnon, of London, is accused of deleting data and illegally accessing information on 97 U.S. military and NASA computers between February 2001 and March 2002. He’s been charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

McKinnon admitted to using a program called “RemotelyAnywhere” to hack into PCs late at night when employees were gone. His hacking exploits started to unravel after McKinnon miscalculated the time difference between the U.S. and U.K., and one employee noticed their PC was acting oddly.

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