How to Protect Computer Data
"How to Protect Computer Data", published in The Hartford Courant on September 19, 2007, discusses the failure of the State of Connecticut to adequately protect personal information entrusted to its custody and measures it could have taken to have significantly reduced the impact of the loss of a notebook computer containing personal information regarding more than 100,000 of its citizens.

Sufficient care must be taken by both the private and public sectors to protect all information with which they are entrusted.  The solutions offered in "How to Protect Computer Data" are not meant to be the end all solution but are ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 9/19/2007 5:55 AM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Border Searches of Your PC...Are They Legal Under the 4th Amendment, Your Right to Privacy -- Part 2
On 6/21/2007 we wrote that the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is likely in an
interesting quandary given the recent decision of the 6th US Circuit
Court of Appeals decision regarding eMail privacy
which has concluded that it is protected under the 4th Amendment. 
Clearly past precedent has been set relative to inspections at border
crossings which would appear to permit them to continue without
limitation, more commonly referred to as border searches
However, such precedent has never been heretofore presented with the
issue of notebook computers, DVDs, thumb drives, etcetera containing information that is protected
under the 4th Amendment.

Briefs ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 9/18/2007 6:38 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Border Searches of Your PC...Are They Legal Under the 4th Amendment, Your Right to Privacy

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is likely in an interesting quandary given the recent decision of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding eMail privacy which has concluded that it is protected under the 4th Amendment.  Clearly past precedent has been set relative to inspections at border crossings which would appear to permit them to continue without limitation, more commonly referred to as border searches.  However, such precedent has never been heretofore presented with the issue of notebook computers containing information that is ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 6/21/2007 7:05 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Rights to Privacy Protected By US Court of Appeals Sixth District
Many of us say, "It is about time."  We continuously warn all eMail users that it is not a secure medium and you should not put anything in eMail that you do not want published.  This ruling by the US Court of Appeals could be the first step towards correcting that caveat. 

As stated in the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)  press release, "Over the last 20 years, the government has routinely used the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) to secretly obtain ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 6/21/2007 5:58 AM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Julie Amero -- Do You Think It's Over? -- Think Again, It May Not Be!!

Ok, she has been granted a new trial...so what's the fuss about.  After all, we all know that she was caught in a porn pop-up storm likely induced by others; how can she be at risk?  Simply stated, she was, and still is charged with 4 counts of "risk of injury to a minor".  The State still has the option of trying her again without using the digital forensic evidence and asking the jury whether she did enough to protect the children (7th graders) from the porn pop-up storm, whatever the cause.

There is enough about this case on the Internet ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 6/20/2007 5:19 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
To be contined.....It appears that the Julie Amero drama will never end!
Once again, for the fourth time, the saga of Julie Amero has been continued.  Who knows why?  Only the States Attorney.  And, when it is finally heard, at this point no one can be really sure but currently the date is June 6th, it will not be heard in the court of conviction, Norwich Superior Court, but at the New London Judicial District court, the supervising headquarters of the Norwich Superior Court.  I was looking forward to attending the hearing in Norwich today and meeting many of the persons who I have discussed this case with.  Unfortunately, I may not ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 5/18/2007 6:55 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Sentencing continues to be Continued.....Julie Amero....Will it ever end?
I hope that you have been following this case through other vehicles.  Simply stated, my activities relative to Julie, college and clients has me going in overdrive and now that Spring has arrived, finally in New England, I have a lot of outside duties to tend to as well.  A lot has transpired since my last post, the most significant of which is the delay of the sentencing.  First of all in February until March 26th at the request of defense with the addition of skilled defense/appeal attornies and then March until April 26th at the State's request.  Now, ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 4/24/2007 1:24 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Julie Amero -- Searchable Transcript Now Available
Through the efforst of several individuals, a searchable version of the transcript is now available that can be published on the Internet. Actually, it has been available for several days. However, I wanted to clean it up and found the challenge greater than the amount of spare time that I have to complete such a task. Thus, while this transcript is "good", you will find that it changes font and appearance on many occasions. It also has errors in that this is an automated OCR conversion of the original images appearing in the non-searchable version.Thus, when ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 3/7/2007 6:55 AM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Julie Amero -- I've Been Silent for Too Long!! -- Phase 2
I promised in my initial post on the Julie Amero issue that I would update the matter when a couple of articles that I knew were in development became available to the public. Personally, I am very pleased with these articles and what they present to the public. One of them is quite long, 17 pages, but an extremely informative well written read. The other is of similar quality from a totally different, mostly technical perspective. There is no question that both authors see the Julie Amero issue as a travesty of justice as do I. ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 2/22/2007 5:21 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks
Julie Amero -- I've Been Silent for Too Long!!
Ok....where have I been for so long; working studying and maintaining another blog on a daily basis along with following/working on the Julie Amero case with my law professor. I know...I should have said something sooner, but quite frankly with everything that has been going on with Julie Amero I am barely keeping up with my studies and my wife is quite unhappy as well but is also outraged regarding this case.I could overwhelm you with the facts, but rather than repeat what some many others have said so well with much more to come in the near future ...
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Posted by Bob Johnston CISSP at 2/17/2007 4:18 PM | View Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks