In other news the CEO of Verticon Industries, Dr Evil assures us there's nothing to worry about.

In other news? Mel Brooks assures everyone that there is absolutely no air shortage what-so-ever.

Private hospital, but most of the patients are on gov't subsidized health plans, so.... ^/~

Before I begin let me preface this post by saying I work in a hospital in the IT Staff, and I have for the past 10 years now (as scary as that sounds to me typing it out). At any rate I can say that malware, spyware, virus' etc are a constant concern for the staff here. When I started working here it was the 'Wild West' for computing, people did what they wanted, when they wanted to on their computers, and we've slowly curbed that. Especially now that electronic medical records are being used. The key we've found to keep malicious software off computers used for medical purposes, or with confidential data is actually three fold -- First segregate those devices with ePHI (electronic protected health information) off onto their own network, strip the computers of all but the most essential software, and the medical staff all have to sign agreements when they're hired that strictly prohibit them from using computers for personal tasks. Want to check your e-mail? Bring in your smart phone, or laptop etc, and do it with that device (we actually provide a wireless for the entire staff to use 'just' for that purpose). Nobody can keep 'on task' all day, so allowing them the outlet with some caveats has been a great success. However, all machines that have access to the ePHI network are imaged once put into service, but we re-image the machines on a staggered schedule so every 6 months they're a fresh install. Virus software (AVG) is installed and on an automatic update / scan schedule as well -- with a central server that reports results to us. Also for security concerns every Laptop is encrypted (thank you Truecrypt), and every device that accesses ePHI comes through a VPN. If a Laptop get's stolen (and one has in the past), the VPN access for that device is revoked immediately. So between the VPN and Encryption, the odds of a 'break' in our security are astronomical. Anyway all these procedures may seem a bit excessive, but we've yet to have a PC with ePHI or EMR softwaret be compromised where I work thanks to them. I sleep slightly better at night thanks to this system actually. I do know of several other hospitals / medical facilities that are far far less secure though, and frankly it scares the hell out of me how cavalier they are about the whole ordeal. One of our doctors is Per Diem and his home office supplied him with an unencrypt, unsecured, laptop with full admin rights, and their EMR software installed on said Laptop for his free use. PS -- A tip to anyone working in a medical facility, one of the ways we had our providers (Doctors) agree to this stringent of a system was to point out that infractions where ePHI is compromised put their necks on the line, even more so then they do ours. So all this security is for their benefit as much as yours. Also, this goes double if you have a counseling staff because the rules around ePHI regarding counseling services are even more strict and crazy. Anyway hopefully that helps someone out.

And thus the end of Apple's 'security via obscurity' is coming to a close. It was nice while it lasted, but it's time to move on

Well, I won't comment on the rather slimy move by the gov't, and their clear lack of ability to stand up for the reasonable privacy of their people... wait I think I just did. However, there is a simple solution to all this -- don't use Facebook. I used to use the site, but deleted my account about 6 months ago (permanently deleted... not just suspended as they do by default), and I've never been happier. I found I didn't like the practices of the sites owners, and it was just a constant drain on my time. I have better things to do with my day then look in on the lives of distant friends / relatives I don't care about. Anyone that I really consider a close friend doesn't need FB to see what I'm up to, nor do I need it to see what they're doing. If you don't have a FB account... certainly no employer can demand access to it If they ask you for your FB login information you can quite honestly and frankly tell them you don't use the service. Still, I think that it's supremely slimy for an employer to want this information from you. Just another reason that if you use these social networking sites, you should never post anything of significance on them.

We all know this is how SkyNet started this way.... I guess 2012 really /is/ the end of the world!

So.... I can develop for Android ICS. Now! Just to learn Java! *coughs*

Eat a taco, recharge your smart phone from the caloric content.... sound's like a win win to me (jk)

*facepalm* That would explain the black hole that just formed in my office and consumed my co-worker. Poor fool, that's what he gets for taking my seat!

Well, we can clearly see that it's not an iPhone 4, else holding it with her left hand would kill the signal.

The Blue Screen of Death will now cause the green cloud of radioactive fallout! Gate's is simply looking to create a rainbow of diversity for the ways that he can cause pain and destruction. Though... I'm not sure leaping from electronic to biological desolation? Might their be some anti-trust issues here (again)? Billy when oh when will you learn?

This sort've thing drives me insane. DLC is a good idea in concept but in practice? You get results like this. You shouldn't have to pay any gaming company for additional content they included on the disc, it's madness, taken to another high level. I get severly annoyed with these gaming companies that release DLC 5 days after the game's out,a nd change 15 USD for it. Or the ones that release DLC that actually just fixes bugs in their game whilst adding very very little to the experience. Its one thing to add an expansion to your game, it's another thing to take content that should've been free that was already on the disc... and charge people to play it. I don't say this often, but I hope the hacking community figures out a way to open up the extra content on the disc for free on the PC, because if I owned the game... I'd crack it.

Actually we've run into that. But That's a violation of HIPPA (Health Information Privacy and Portability Act), and if you find your users doing something like that in a medical environment? It can mean very serious action is taken. We actually had one person refuse to 'not' use post-its.. and they where let go from the organization. And I mean honestly in the grand scheme of things, you're adding one password to your daily computing life, that will ultimately save someones butt if their PC gets stolen. Where I work, most of the Doctors are grateful for that extra layer of security. They know that if patient data was leaked, on their watch? It would likely mean their jobs, a black mark on their names in the public, and a lot worse for the organization they work for. I'm sure its similar in other fields.

I really fail to see why so many of these companies fail to use common sense. The first thing we do as an IT staff in my organization with laptops is encrypt them. Use something like Truecrypt, enable full drive encryption and set a good password. Laptop gets stolen? You're out the cost of the physical hardware that was taken from you... but the data that was on the machine? You can rest easy that you took every precaution you could to keep it safe. Of course, I work in the health care field so, any laptops, tablets, netbooks etc that have any ePHI (Electronic Protected Health Information), have to be secured. We just take our security practices a step further and do it to all of them. Which is worse? Having your users gripe a bit about an extra password? Or having data stolen? It's saved us once already as a laptop was stolen last year on a business trip.