Trend Notes
As many as 1,200 Louisville homes might be able to benefit in the second year of a home-security program, "Creating Safer Neighborhoods," that was piloted last year by Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government in partnership with Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse Stores.
Earlier this year, Lowe's presented a $10,000 grant to metro government for the project. Those funds will go toward the home-security effort conducted by the Louisville Metro Department of Neighborhoods and the Louisville Metro Police Department, according to Rebecca Brenzel, communications manager for the Department of Neighborhoods. Lowe's representatives also participate in the project, which involves installing security devices, such as door locks and dusk-to-dawn lights, in area homes.
The next step in this year's project will involve determining which neighborhoods to involve, Brenzel said. Residents who are interested can contact MetroCall for details, by dialing 311 or 574-5000. Last year's pilot project was initiated to address an increase in home break-ins and began in the Germantown, Schnitzelburg, Smoketown and Shelby Park neighborhoods. It later was expanded to Paristown Pointe, the Original Highlands, Deer Park and Tyler Park. In its first year, 11,000 homes were contacted in seven neighborhoods, more than 600 home-security devices were installed and 512 employee hours were donated by local Lowe's stores.
Internal IT network attacks on the rise
Internal computer network attacks are happening with greater frequency than outside attacks at the world's largest financial companies, according to a recent survey released by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. The 2005 Global Security Survey found that 35 percent of financial institutions confirmed encountering attacks on their information technology systems from inside their organization within the past 12 months. This was a significant increase from 14 percent in 2004.
In addition, 26 percent confirmed they had received attacks from external sources. This was an increase from 23 percent in 2004. Phishing and pharming -- luring people to give out sensitive information by using fake e-mails and Web sites -- are among the top security threats financial institutions faced in the past year, the release said. The shift from external to internal attacks, as well as tactics that exploit human behavior is a result of improved use of technological defenses -- such as anti-virus software and content filtering and monitoring. For more information, go to
www.deloitte.com.Spyware is topic of security group meeting
The Information Systems Security Association, Kentuckiana chapter, will meet today, July 15, on the topic of spyware. The event is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the iTRC theater on the University of Louisville Shelby Campus. The speaker will be Ric Stuebs of asiGuardian LLC, a company that provides data-protection services. The organization's next meeting is Aug. 19. The group, which is on the Web at
www.issa-kentuckiana.org, meets on the third Friday of the month. For more information, e-mail programs@issa-kentuckiana.org.IT security conference to be held in Nashville
A seminar for information security workers will be held in Nashville next month in conjunction with a conference of the Information Systems Security Association, Middle Tennessee chapter. The program, "How to be a more effective information security professional," will be offered Aug. 22 and 23. The conference hotel is Renaissance Nashville, 611 Commerce St. The Nashville Technology Council also is a sponsor. For more information, go to
www.gocsi.com/training.Psychology plays role in security matters
Psychology plays a significant role in companies' perception of security and their actions to prevent security risks, according to a recent report by Quocirca, a business and information technology research firm.
The survey of more than 3,000 online respondents found that understanding security issues still falls victim to the fear factor. For example, companies that suffer a security attack in the recent past are significantly more aware that they might suffer a similar attack in the future. At least 10 percent of those surveyed had suffered a security attack in the past three months. Go to
www.quocirca.com for details.-- Rebecca Ray