Technology Today's June 30th Radio Show Addresses Health IT.Wonder-Cure or Expensive Placebo?

The #1 rated technology talk show on Internet Radio’s host Ajay Gupta Discusses the Growth of the Cybersecurity, Innovation and its Impact on Healthcare IT

It’s an industry being positioned as everything from the next great frontier of job creation to the innovations capable of revolutionizing how medicine is delivered in American while dramatically cutting its costs. The desire to create meaningful use of health data, to empower providers, physicians and others to provide better care while simultaneously, lowering costs is a goal that will take years to achieve.  This week, we look at the current state of Health IT in America and compare the industry and our current practices to those of European nations which are often used as models for our own reforms.

Technology Today is the #1 rated technology talk show on Internet radio for a rapidly growing worldwide audience of people who are curious about technology and who need an interactive information channel that can help them make sense of how innovations in business and personal technologies are shaping our lives.  This week’s show will discuss, in-depth, the opportunities and challenges the United States faces in implementing integrated electronic health records (EHRs), a nation-wide data exchange network and improve over-all patient care.  

We’ll be joined by Hans Agarwal, Practice Leader at Everis, a multi-national consulting firm operating on both sides of the Atlantic.  We will examine the current state of health IT and discuss who is leading the way, what is working and what European models can the United States adopt to improve our current status in health IT.

Don’t forget -- Technology Today is now on the BlogTalkRadio network – the online home for Internet Radio!

WHO:             Hans Agarwal, Practice Leader at Everis, a multi-national consulting, IT and Outsourcing Professional Services Firm

WHAT:           Technology Today Radio Show – Healthcare IT…Wonder-Cure or Expensive Placebo?

WHEN:          Thursday, June 30th, 4 PM EST

WHERE:       Technology Today continues to air on Thursdays at 4PM on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/technologytoday.  You can still reach us by phone, email, texts to 240-731-0756, facebook, and on Twitter. Our new call-in number is (323) 410-0032. Please visit www.technologytodayradio.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Sandra Schwartzman, RMR & Associates, Inc. sschwartzman@rmr.com,

(301) 230-0045 x 100

About Technology Today

Technology Today is the #1 rated technology talk show on Internet radio for a rapidly growing worldwide audience of people who are curious about technology and who need an interactive information channel that can help them make sense of how innovations in business and personal technologies are shaping our lives. Created and hosted by cybersecurity authority Ajay Gupta, Technology Today also offers tech-driven sponsors an uncommon branding platform that delivers precision-targeted messages to a self-selected, self-perpetuating community of predisposed enthusiasts who are open to innovation and, therefore, new ways of thinking and doing.  Unlike traditional talk radio programs, Technology Today creates an online community in which listeners, guests and sponsors can come to know the issues, people and organizations driving development and deployment of technologies that are changing lives and shaping the future. Technology Today air Live on Thursdays at 4pm Eastern Standard Time. For more information on Technology Today please visit www.technologytodayradio.com or follow the show through Facebook, Twitter or the show's blog.

Read More >>

Gsecurity, Inc. Launches New Service Offering to Ensure Greater Cloud Security

Gsecurity, Inc. Launches New Service Offering to Ensure Greater Cloud Security Leading Cybersecurity Consulting Firm Identifies Key Qualifiers to Use to Assess and Grade Client’s Cloud Providers

Greenbelt, MD, June 28, 2011 – Gsecurity, Inc., a business-minded cybersecurity and information technology consulting firm, announced today the launch of a new service offering to better educate and assist their clients with assessing their cloud providers and their overall cloud security. Gsecurity’s founder Ajay Gupta has designed a formal checklist to evaluate the security of cloud providers and ensure their service offerings and operational practices match the clients’ internal practices, personalized needs and the clients’ risk profile.  

“In consulting clients both in the private and public sector, we’re finding that many do not have the knowledge or the background in being able to identify whether or not their cloud provider is addressing and meeting their security needs,” said Gupta. “As the Federal Government and the Private Sector continue to engage in cloud-based applications there is a great need for security measures to be built in and for the end-user to be educated in how to assess their provider and their risk profile.”

At a time where knowledge and understanding for cybersecurity is at an all time high and as innovations in business and personal technology are occurring faster than we can comprehend or keep up with, Gupta sees this as a great opportunity for Gsecurity to be organizations and individual’s guide through all the tech advances that impact business’s performance. Gsecurity expands consulting services to enable organizations, to not only understanding their risk profile and how to secure their electronic assets, but to understand how to minimize risk as they engage in cloud-based technology solutions and move more towards the cloud.

About Gsecurity, Inc.

Gsecurity, headquartered in Greenbelt, MD, is a business-minded cybersecurity consulting firm that designs, deploys and manages robust IT security systems and processes for legal, health care, nonprofit and other organizations operating in demanding and sophisticated environments, who need to protect and secure the vital information and intellectual property assets they depend upon for competitive viability and sustainability. The Gsecurity team of senior-level IT security professionals is guided by strategic problem-solving approaches in health IT, ERP, eDiscovery/forensics, green technology and disaster recovery/business continuity planning that balance both security needs and business realities. Gsecurity is relentlessly focused on improving the business productivity and protecting the long-term competitive advantage of its clients and is the only cybersecurity consulting firm that includes a return-on-investment (ROI) analysis with every client recommendation and that balance both security needs and business realities.  For more information on Gsecurity please visit www.gsecurity.com or call (301)345 -7595.

Read More >>

'Scareware' Distributors Targeted

12 Nations Coordinate Anti-Cyber Crime Effort

One of the most widespread types of cyber scam being perpetrated against consumers these days involves “scareware”—those pop-up messages you see on your computer saying you’ve got a virus and all you have to do to get rid of it is buy the antivirus software being advertised.

And if you don’t buy it? The pop-ups continue unabated, and in some instances, the scareware renders all of the information on your computer inaccessible.

But today, the Department of Justice and the FBI announced “Operation Trident Tribunal,” a coordinated, international law enforcement action that disrupted the activities of two international cyber crime rings involved in the sale of scareware. The groups are believed responsible for victimizing more than one million computer users and causing more than $74 million in total losses.

What is Scareware?

Scareware is malicious software that poses as legitimate computer security software and claims to detect a variety of threats on the affected computer that do not actually exist. Users are then informed they must purchase the scareware in order to repair their computers and are barraged with aggressive and disruptive notifications until they supply their credit card number and pay up to $129 for the worthless scareware product.

Scam #1: The FBI’s Seattle office began looking into a scareware scam that ultimately claimed an estimated 960,000 victims who lost a total of $72 million. Investigators discovered a variety of ruses used to infect computers with scareware, including consumers being directed to webpages featuring fake computer scans. Once their computers were infected with the malicious software, victims began being notified by pop-ups that their machines had all sorts of viruses and they should buy the antivirus software being advertised—at a price of up to $129.

Scam #2: The FBI’s Minneapolis office initiated an investigation into an international criminal group using online advertising to spread its scareware product, a tactic known as “malvertising.” According to a federal indictment unsealed today, the two individuals charged created a phony advertising agency and claimed to represent a hotel chain that wanted to purchase online advertising space on a Minneapolis newspaper’s website. After the ad was verified by the paper and posted, the defendants changed the ad’s computer code so that visitors to the site became infected with a malicious software program that launched scareware on their computers. That scheme resulted in losses of about of about $2 million to its victims.

In a true reflection of the international nature of cyber crime, “Trident Tribunal” was the result of significant cooperation among 12 nations: Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, Netherlands, Cyprus, France, Lithuania, Romania, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. So far, the case has resulted in two arrests abroad, along with the seizure of more than 40 computers, servers, and bank accounts. Because of the magnitude of the schemes, law enforcement agencies here and abroad are continuing their investigative efforts.

How to spot scareware on your own computer:

■Scareware pop-ups may look like actual warnings from your system, but upon closer inspection, some elements aren’t fully functional. For instance, to appear authentic, you may see a list of reputable icons—like software companies or security publications—but you can’t click through to go to those actual sites.

■Scareware pop-ups are hard to close, even after clicking on the “Close” or “X” button.

■Fake antivirus products are designed to appear legitimate, with names such as Virus Shield, Antivirus, or VirusRemover. 

And to avoid being victimized, make sure your computer is using legitimate, up-to-date antivirus software, which can help detect and remove fraudulent scareware products.

Highlights:

- More than 1 million victims incurred over $74 million in actual losses;

- Two subjects arrested;

- More than 40 computers, servers, and bank accounts seized;

- 12 countries participating, including United States, Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, Netherlands, Cyprus, France, Sweden, Lithuania, Romania, Canada, and the United Kingdom

Read More >>

Technology Today's June 2nd Radio Show Addresses Recent Cyber Attacks on Lockheed Martin and PBS

Technology Today’s June 2nd Radio Show Addresses Recent Cyber Attacks on Lockheed Martin and PBS The #1 rated technology talk show on Internet Radio’s host Ajay Gupta & Guests Discuss Growth of the Cybersecurity Industry and its Impact on Education and the Economy

You may have noticed that the issue of Cybersecurity is permanently in the news now. Along with delays on routes to beaches for the official kick-off of summer, better known as Memorial Day weekend, there were several reports a hacker group compromised PBS and issued a story reporting the rapper Tupac is alive and well in New Zealand.  There seems to be a rise in higher profile breaches recently (Lockheed Martin was compromised the previous weekend).  Taken together with word from the Pentagon that a cyber attack may be met with a conventional military response, we have to ask, are we in a ramp up period of a cyber war? 

Technology Today is the #1 rated technology talk show on Internet radio for a rapidly growing worldwide audience of people who are curious about technology and who need an interactive information channel that can help them make sense of how innovations in business and personal technologies are shaping our lives.  This week’s show will discuss, in-depth, the realities of major security attacks at Lockheed Martin and PBS and just how close the hackers came to retrieving classified information. 

Cybersecurity is becoming such a mainstream issue, that many are beginning to consider responding to cybersecurity as a source of growth and economic development, which means we will need to provide the education to develop additional cybersecurity experts. On this week's show, we'll talk with Suresh Balakrishnan, Associate Vice Chancellor and Deputy CIO of the University System of Maryland, who recently released a report on how Maryland's higher education system can improve its cybersecurity educational offerings as well as how the state, as a whole, can leverage the expected growth in this field for economic benefits.

Also, this week, we will be announcing Big News about the show! Tune in and find out more.

WHO:   Cybersecurity Expert and Technology Today Radio Host to Interview Suresh Balakrishnan, Associate Vice Chancellor and Deputy CIO of the University System of Maryland

WHAT:  Technology Today Radio Show – Recent Cyber Attacks on Lockheed Martin, PBS; Cybersecurity Industry Growth and Education

WHEN: Thursday, June 2nd, 4 PM EST

WHERE:  Podcast available on the VoiceAmerica network site, syndicated on Apple's iTunes, and available for download over smart phone apps on all three major app platforms.  Please visit www.technologytodayradio.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Sandra Schwartzman, RMR & Associates, Inc. sschwartzman@rmr.com,

(301) 230-0045 x 100

About Technology Today

Technology Today is the #1 rated technology talk show on Internet radio for a rapidly growing worldwide audience of people who are curious about technology and who need an interactive information channel that can help them make sense of how innovations in business and personal technologies are shaping our lives. Created and hosted by cybersecurity authority Ajay Gupta, Technology Today also offers tech-driven sponsors an uncommon branding platform that delivers precision-targeted messages to a self-selected, self-perpetuating community of predisposed enthusiasts who are open to innovation and, therefore, new ways of thinking and doing.  Unlike traditional talk radio programs, Technology Today creates an online community in which listeners, guests and sponsors can come to know the issues, people and organizations driving development and deployment of technologies that are changing lives and shaping the future. Technology Today air Live on Thursdays at 4pm Eastern, is available as a podcast on the VoiceAmerica network site , syndicated on Apple's iTunes, and available for download over smart phone apps on all three major app platforms.  For more information on Technology Today please visit www.technologytodayradio.com or follow the show through Facebook, Twitter or the show's blog.

Read More >>

Pentagon, Homeland Security Collaborate on Cybersecurity

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2011 – In line with an agreement between the department secretaries last fall and a recently released White House proposal, the Defense Department is sharing cybersecurity information, capabilities and expertise with the Homeland Security Department, a Pentagon official said today.

Robert J. Butler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, was among four senior officials who testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today about the Obama administration’s legislative proposal to protect the nation’s computer networks.

Under the plan, Homeland Security would lead the effort to protect Americans, the nation’s critical infrastructure and the federal government’s computer networks. The Defense Department would retain protections over its “dot-mil” domain, but would work in close collaboration with DHS and the departments of Justice and Commerce to better safeguard cyberspace.

“Just as our reliance on critical infrastructure has grown, so have the threats,” Butler told the committee, adding that the military is “critically dependent” on the civilian power generation grid, telecommunications, transportation and other sectors run on computer networks.

Cyber attacks have become so pervasive as to create “a real possibility of a large-scale attack on any of our nation’s critical infrastructure,” Butler said.

“The status quo [in cybersecurity] is no longer acceptable -- not when there is so much at stake,” he said. “We can, and we will, do better.”

Committee members and government witnesses described cybersecurity as a Wild West of uncoordinated efforts struggling to stay ahead of rapidly growing and increasingly sophisticated threats to the nation’s security and economy. The administration’s proposal -- requested by Congress members faced with dozens of pieces of cybersecurity legislative proposals -- would give legal authority to the appropriate agencies to better coordinate cybersecurity.

Some 2 billion people worldwide use the Internet, and an estimated $1 trillion is lost annually to cyber crimes, committee members said. Congress and U.S. executive departments, they added, are the target of about 1.8 billion cyber attacks per month.

Protecting computer networks requires a “whole of government” approach, Butler said, and the Defense and Homeland Security departments already are doing that. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano laid the foundation for the collaboration in October with their agreement to share operational planning and technical development, he said.

Since then, Butler said, the collaboration has grown into joint coordination at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md., and the sharing of information, capabilities, and employees.

Philip Reitinger, undersecretary of homeland defense for national protection and programs, said Homeland Security, Defense Department and National Security Agency officials meet regularly and have weekly teleconferences to coordinate cybersecurity.

“We each bring unique things to the table,” he said. “DOD has unparalleled technical expertise and cyber expertise. In DHS, we’ve built up our own expertise, working broadly across agencies.”

Homeland Security will stay “operationally synched” with the Defense Department, and both departments and NSA will deploy cyber experts to work at each others’ sites, Reitinger said.

To ensure a steady supply of cyber experts in the future, Butler said, the Defense Department supports various high school and college competitions such as the CyberPatriot, which the Air Force Association began as an annual competition in 2009, as well as coaching and mentoring programs in cybersecurity.

“This is not only about today, it’s also about tomorrow,” he said. “Secretary Gates has made this a big priority.”

Read More >>

Lynn: Cyberspace Strategy to Build Coalition of Nations

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2011 – White House officials released an international cyberstrategy here today that will help to build a “coalition of nations [with a] mutual interest in securing cyberspace,” Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said.

The event to launch the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace also included remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“The strategy the president is releasing today provides a framework for how we can expand this cooperation and establishes how network security relates to other critical areas of partnership,” Lynn said.

Hosting the event were John O. Brennan, assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security, and Howard A. Schmidt, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator.

Senior foreign diplomats and representatives from industry, civil society and academia also attended.

Clinton said the strategy’s seven key policy priorities are economic engagement, cybersecurity, law enforcement, military cooperation, multiple-stakeholder Internet governance, development and Internet freedom.

“We are seeing cyberspace transform before our very eyes,” she said. “Now we must shape this transformation.”

White House officials released a statement that called the strategy a “first-of-its-kind policy document [that] offers our comprehensive vision for the future of international cooperation in cyberspace.” The report also outlines the administration’s agenda, the statement said, “for partnering with other nations and peoples to ensure the prosperity, security and openness that we seek in our increasingly networked world.”

Lynn said no one nation can devise or enforce a sustainable solution.

“It is hard to overstate the importance of cyberspace to the Department of Defense or the need to engage our allies and partners to keep it secure,” he said. “Department of Defense networks are probed millions of times a day, and more than 100 foreign intelligence agencies have tried to penetrate our networks or those of our industrial partners.”

Cyber threats are growing more serious and more prevalent, Lynn added, and meeting them requires the cooperation of nations, the private sector and individuals.

“Our military continues to ensure that we can operate with secure and reliable networks, he said, “and maintain the capability to defend vital national assets.”

The Defense Department’s forthcoming Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, Lynn said, will detail the military’s role in keeping DOD networks secure.

“Just as our air defenses are linked with those of our allies to provide warning of attack, so too must we share information to prevent and, if necessary, respond to cyber intrusions,” he added.

Over the past year, DOD officials have worked with counterparts in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the NATO alliance to strengthen cyber partnerships, Lynn said.

“While our efforts are increasingly linked with many international partners,” he added, “far greater levels of cooperation with more nations are needed if we are to stay ahead of the cyber threat.”

The strategy that President Barack Obama released today, Lynn said, “provides a framework for how we can expand this cooperation and establishes how network security relates to other crucial areas of partnership.”

Lynn said he is delighted to carry defense cooperation forward in the cyber realm.

“I look forward to working closely in this effort with the departments of State, Justice, Commerce and Homeland Security under the leadership of President Obama,” he said.

Read More >>