Techy Holiday Gift Guide

If you’re at all like me, then you probably dislike shopping–especially around the holidays. You can’t find parking, can’t find gifts and have to wait forever to checkout. Thankfully you could always shop online and avoid all of that!

However, the toughest part is figuring out what to even buy.  If you have a geek in your life that you’re shopping for, or just a general tech-lover, then you should definitely CLICK HERE and check out CNET’s 2009 Ultimate Holiday Tech Guide. I hope it helps!

The Decade in Information Assurance

With 2010 just around the corner, everyone is not only reflecting on the year but on the entire decade.  Yesterday afternoon, on the Federal News Radio show titled “The Daily Debrief,” Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris talked to Dale Meyerrose on “information sharing and cybersecurity.”  Meyerrose was the first CIO for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and currently the VP and GM of cybersecurity and information assurance for Harris Corporation.

CLICK HERE to listen to the segment and stay tuned to our blog for our own little recap on information assurance and cybersecurity in 2009.

SenditCertified and GEMMS Partner to Offer Secure Communications between Doctors and Patients

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SenditCertified, a secure communications and collaboration platform, has announced a VAR partnership with GEMMS, the leader in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for cardiology. SenditCertified will be providing GEMMS with its patent pending ePackage solutions to be used in communicating with their user base comprised of cardiologists.

With the push for EHRs by the U.S. government, SenditCertified has created a solution to address the need for a secure communication system that not only applies to companies in the health care industry but also in the government sector. This system will now be applied to GEMMS’ need for providing a platform for physicians to send encrypted data to their patients, and to referring physicians, insurance companies and others with the appropriate access to protected health information.

“Secure email is the right entry point for physicians to share timely clinical information with their patients, but only if their patients feel confident this information is confidential and safe,” said Rodger Pinto, CEO of GEMMS. “Our partnership with SenditCertified provides the encryption tools necessary to share sensitive data over the Internet. GEMMS’ focus to provide access to the right information to physicians now includes sharing this information securely with the patients via email.”

Added SenditCertified CEO Dr. Steve McAdams: “This partnership with GEMMS allows SenditCertified to play a pivotal role in helping to provide a solution to interoperability — data transfer between and among disparate electronic systems. It also provides a solution to secure electronic communications with patients – allowing them near real time access to their health information.”

For more information about SenditCertified’s secure communications solutions visit: www.SenditCertified.com.

About SenditCertified

SenditCertified is a secure communications and collaboration platform developed by top industry IT and Intelligence professionals. Current patent-pending technology solutions include ePackage™, eProject™, Corporate Secure Inbox™ (CSI) and Personal Secure Inbox™ (PSI). SenditCertified clients include public and private entities from multiple industries including Government, Security Services, Education, Healthcare, International Business Consulting, and Financial Services.

About GEMMS

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Indianapolis, GEMMS designs, implements and supports medical information solutions specifically created for ambulatory cardiology practices. Developed in the nation’s largest cardiology practice, it is the nation’s first provider of an integrated EHR /PM software for cardiology practices. The company’s GEMMS ONE single-point decision software, along with its continuum of integrated information products, are used by more cardiologists than any other system.

SenditCertified and Mediscribes Prove HIPAA Compliance on the Cloud Possible

SenditCertified has announced an official agreement to be the secure communications platform for Mediscribes. One of the leading medical transcription companies in the world, Mediscribes has recently completed a six month trial with SenditCertified, and will now move toward full integration of both the Corporate Secure Inbox (CSI) and ePackage solutions.

As the largest medical transcription company of its kind, serving doctors and hospitals around the world, Mediscribes is committed to using SenditCertified’s patent-pending technologies for all of its client communications. During the trial period, Mediscribes sent more than 10,000 ePackages worldwide.

“As a global provider of medical transcriptions, you can imagine how important security is to our clients,” remarked Mediscribes CEO, Chetan Parikh. “We chose SenditCertified because they met not only our clients’ security needs but the regulations as set forth by the government, including HIPAA.”

The security requirements prescribed by HIPAA are very necessarily stringent to safeguard the patient’s right to privacy. Not complying with HIPAA can result in civil penalties. Through their agreement, SenditCertified will give Mediscribes the ability to abide by HIPAA standards and offer the assurance of secure data transfer to their customers.

Added SenditCertified CEO, Dr. Steve McAdams: “In today’s e-communication environment, it is important that we offer streamlined, secure solutions that meet government mandates while also being affordable and ‘integration’ friendly. One of our goals as a company is to give clients customized solutions that require no down time and are easily transferable across departments, states, and countries. Our agreement with Mediscribes is part of an ongoing effort to provide technology solutions for the healthcare industry.”

For more information about SenditCertified’s secure communications solutions visit: www.SenditCertified.com.

About SenditCertified

SenditCertified is a secure communications and collaboration platform developed by top industry IT and Intelligence professionals. Current patent-pending technology solutions include ePackage™, eProject™, Corporate Secure Inbox™ (CSI) and Personal Secure Inbox™ (PSI). SenditCertified clients include public and private entities from multiple industries including Government, Security Services, Education, Healthcare, International Business Consulting, and Financial Services.

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Contacts:

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Rebekah Iliff, 310-770-8338
Rebekah@SmartGirlsConsulting.com

Demand for Information Assurance Professionals Rises

John Rossi, the professor of systems management/information assurance at National Defense University (NDU) Information Resources Management College (IRMC) revealed in an exclusive interview that the need for information security professionals is high.  In this interview Rossi describes the need for pros and experts in the field of information assurance to spend more time educating those around them and in their communities.  If you’ve been reading our own blog you’ll know that cyber attacks are on the rise and our government is still trying to figure out exactly what can be done to protect us from cyber warfare.  Rossi himself has gone out to local public schools and spoken on the topic of information technology and information assurance in order to not only raise awareness but also interest in the fields for our future generations.  For those who experience stage fright, however, Rossi urges them to write instead.  There are always newsletters and magazines willing to publish thoughtful works of writing on government security.  We personall commend John Rossi for his efforts and hope more will follow in his foot steps.

CLICK HERE to read the full interview.

Cyber Security Laws Stir Controversy On Capitol Hill

Cybersecurity laws have been stirring much confusion and controversy on Capitol Hill as of late.  Currently there are concerns that existing laws aren’t sufficient enough due to the increasing number of cyber attacks both in the private and public sectors.  James Baker, the associate deputy attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice, revealed that the Obama Administration is being extremely cautious because of the complicated nature of this issue.  For example, mandating cybersecurity efforts for private businesses could potentially be counterproductive to our national economic interests.  However, those on the opposing side that some mandates just  might be necessary for private businesses.  The good news is is that our Department of Justice has actually seen some success in fighting cyber crime.

CLICK HERE to read more on the issue.

Inter-agency Secure Communications for a Global Economy: a Closer Look at the ePackage

Almost every day we read another headline about “cyber security threats” or “security breaches” of confidential information. If it’s not Sarah Palin’s Twitter account being hacked, it’s the story of a politician who thought his email was safer than his mobile phone where he is subsequently caught in a compromising position, the details of which we can leave to the imagination. So what does this all mean, what are the implications, why does it matter, and what is secure communications really?

The short answer: secure communications is complete privacy on any type of correspondence between two parties. But even something this basic has become increasingly difficult in our technological age, particularly with technologies such as mobile phones and email. And everyone struggles to maintain their privacy- not just between individuals or corporations, but between government agencies as well. It is vital for this nation’s safety that government agencies have a secure and easy communication platform that is unhindered by the various security threats that invade communications today.

Rhodes & Schwarz currently provides the government with security in each military agency, even implementing complicated and powerful security measures like COMSEC or TRANSEC. The Navy, Air Force, and the Army all have secure radio communication systems, all with the capability to interact with each other, as well as with civil forces. So if the nation’s military agencies are capable of securely interacting with each other, why aren’t our clandestine agencies just as capable of the same? Agencies such as the CIA, FBI, DHS, NSA, etc. have no standard secure form of interagency communication.

It would be hard to fathom the Army and the Air Force having no way to securely communicate within their respective agencies. But shouldn’t it naturally follow that key government agencies should have some way of securely communicating and collaborating with each other without necessarily interfacing on the same system? Wouldn’t it be ideal if they could simply hold private video conferences, or share classified intelligence like files, messages, and recordings over a completely secure communications network without interfering with the current system?

For the past several months, our organization has been involved in a pilot program with a company specializing in biometric authentication and secure communications. By creating a fully collaborative and biometrically verifiable electronic “package” (ePackage™), which is essentially the equivalent of sending a physical package via UPS, the company has created a “bridge” option for sending and receiving encrypted written emails, audio “voicemails”, and attachments of any size. Also, the ePackage™ meets all major government compliance mandates such as HIPAA, SOX, and GLBA.

As governments both nationally and internationally are beginning to see how necessary it is to securely communicate across borders and board rooms, it is important to provide a convenient and secure communications “bridge.” The ePackage™ is that bridge. Based entirely on the cloud, the ePackage™ uses a private internet network to send encrypted emails. This means that problems on public servers such as virus outbreaks, spam, botnet attacks, image-spam, worms, directory harvest, denial-of-service attacks, and hackers of any kind are impossible from the get-go.

The ePackage™ sends encrypted emails that must be biometrically verified by the receiving party with a simple scan of a fingerprint. This is the easiest and fastest way for transaction verification; there is no need for smart cards, passphrases, or security questions. It is a simple, clear-cut transaction without any worry about whether or not the message was really received, or whether or not the real person received it. Security cards, passes, or passwords of any other kind can be revoked, stolen, replicated, or expired.
Biometric Identification is the only identification method that has none of these potential setbacks. It simply relies on the biology of your own body to identify you, with no need for virtual IDs issued by independent Certificate Authorities in a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

The ePackage™ is a convenient method of opening up interagency communications without disturbing or interfering with each of the agency’s current systems. They certainly don’t want to open up their entire networks to each other (as there are certain risks associated with that activity), but in a global economy, where we fight global wars on terror, the necessity for secure communication technologies between agencies is imminent.

Written by Rick Cantwell, President & CEO, Odell Inernational

Email Hack Raises Questions On Global Warming

What many fail to grasp is just what are the various implications of email hacking.  Some are obvious: loss of privacy, the revealing of a scandal or major secret, etc. However, the is always that one incident that no one really ever thinks about or expects.  It’s not that it’s entirely mind blowing, but when it happens, one can’t help but think about how much we really don’t think about (no one blames you though).  In a recent incident, reported by Wired.com, a hacker broke into a leading climate research center and posted a string of over a thousand emails.  This gave global theory skeptics an opportunity to peruse the emails and find self validating information (albeit out of context).  Not only that, but many bloggers are beginning to accuse scientists of “[manipulating] data to support their global warming viewpoints.”  The actual ramifications of this hack are yet to be seen, but one thing it already has done is raise a lot of eyebrows and questions regarding global warming.

CLICK HERE to read more about the emails.

Information Warfare in 60 Minutes

Earlier this week the CBS hit show, “60 Minutes,” did a segment on “Cyber War: Sabotaging the System.” The episode discussed the reality of an imminent cyber war occurring sometime in the future and how the Obama administration has been working diligently to protect us from and prevent an attack.  What many do not understand is just what a “cyber attack” constitutes.  An example of one would be an attack on our power grid or even our computer networks which could result in energy being cut off during winter or no access to pure water.  When 60 Minutes correspondent, Steve Kroft, asked one of our nation’s top spies, Admiral Mike McConnell if he felt that the U.S. was prepared for such an attack, he responded with a definite, “No.”

According to the segment, what made the U.S. government realize the need for a cyber defense system was what is referred to as our “electronic Pearl Harbor.”  In 2007, an unknown group of attackers hacked into several high tech and military agencies and stole terabytes of information.  Furthermore, last November another unknown individual or group of attackers were able to get past the firewall in the Pentagon and enter the networks.  They remained there for several days where they were able to see everything that was going on and even interfere with it.

CLICK HERE to watch the 60 Minutes segment or read the transcript.

Given the seriousness of the issue, SenditCertified has recently been offering several technology solutions for government security and intelligence organizations.  Our patent pending ePackage technology is currently being tested by high level government agencies.  Thus, we have made it our mission to do what we can to help our government implement preventative solutions and technologies.

U.S. Government Isn’t Prepared for Cyber Attack

McAfee released its Fifth Annual Virtual Criminology report earlier this week.  Also, earlier this week, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing titled, “Preventing Terrorist Attacks, Countering Cyber Intrusions, and Protecting Privacy in Cyberspace.” During the hearing, the reality and danger of cyber attacks were stressed in addition to a summary of the steps the committee is taking to address them.  According to InformationWeek:

McAfee’s report, which includes comments from government and private sector security experts, covers a variety of longstanding cybersecurity problems, ranging from reflexive information sharing problems that inhibit prosecution and threat mitigation to the difficulty that nations face in calibrating responses to cyber attacks.

The ultimate conclusion in both the report and the hearing was that our government isn’t all that ready or prepared for a cyber attack.

CLICK HERE to read more at InformationWeek.com