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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

25 Suspected Hackers Arrested

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

25 Suspected Hackers Arrested in International Raids

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS (AP) — Twenty-five suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America, Interpol, the global police agency, said on Tuesday.

The arrests, in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law-enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol’s Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime, Interpol said in a statement.

Those arrested, who ranged in age between 17 and 40, are suspected of planning coordinated cyber-attacks against institutions including Colombia’s defense ministry and presidential Web sites, Chile’s Endesa electricity company and national library, and other targets.

The arrests followed an ongoing investigation begun in mid-February, which comprised searches of 40 locations in 15 cities and included the seizure of 250 pieces of information technology equipment and mobile phones, Interpol said.

Among the 25 people arrested were four suspected Anonymous hackers seized in connection with attacks on Spanish political party Web sites, the Spanish police announced. A national police statement said two servers used by the group in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have been blocked. It said the four arrested included the suspected manager of Anonymous’s computer operations in Spain and Latin America, who was identified only by his initials and the aliases “Thunder” and “Pacotron.”

The four are suspected of defacing websites, carrying out denial-of-service attacks and publishing data online about police assigned to the royal palace and the premier’s office.

Anonymous has no real membership structure. Hackers, activists, and supporters can claim allegiance to its freewheeling principles so it is not clear what impact the arrests will have. Some Internet chatter appeared to point to the possibility of a revenge attack on Interpol’s Web site, but the police organization’s home page appeared to be operating normally late Tuesday.

Simula Research Laboratory Uses CA Technologies Turnkey Cloud - CA Technologies

Simula Research Laboratory Uses CA Technologies Turnkey Cloud - CA Technologies

Hardin County Dials AT&T for Next Gen 9-1-1 Services | AT&T

Hardin County Dials AT&T for Next Gen 9-1-1 Services | AT&T

Oracle's RightNow CX Feb. 2012 Release Extends Capabilites

Oracle’s RightNow CX February 2012 Release Extends Capabilities of Leading Customer Experience Suite

Redwood Shores, CA – February 29, 2012

News Facts

The February 2012 release of Oracle’s RightNow CX Suite, the customer experience suite, has been enhanced with several key new capabilities designed to power great customer experiences. Enhancements include a new Knowledge API, Multifactor Authentication, Facebook Conversation Access and improved Intent Guide functionality.

Knowledge as a Service Capabilities Powered by New Enhancements

Knowledge API allows businesses to enhance service quality and increase self-help opportunities by leveraging the RightNow Knowledge Foundation from any application, service or device, delivering Knowledge as a Service capabilities.

The Industry's Most Secure Cloud Environment Helps Increase Consumer Confidence

Multifactor Authentication (MFA) process strengthens authentication to help reduce the risk of data compromise. This feature is designed to build trust and increase confidence among consumers, further strengthening RightNow’s commitment to providing its customers with a secure cloud environment and to empowering companies with a high level of security.
Oracle’s RightNow CX suite has more compliance certifications than any other customer service cloud platform including: Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP); National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council information security standard defined by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI -DSS / PCI-SSC); Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996; Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70) and Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE 16); and Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). 

New Social Tools Enhance Customer Service

Facebook Conversation Access, a component of the RightNow Social Experience, allows organizations to subscribe to a Facebook page or RSS feed from within Cloud Monitor, which is a social media monitoring tool that lets brands listen and join conversations that consumers are having about a company’s products and services.
This tool empowers brands to improve service quality by automatically retrieving relevant posts and providing a contextual view of conversations and comments from across the social network.
Targeted sentiment detection on comments helps agents to prioritize activities and elevate the most pressing customer inquiries.

Intent Directed Virtual Assistant Enriches Customer Interactions

Intent Guide Virtual Assistant provides enhanced web chat experiences with threaded chat interactions to gather critical information from consumers utilizing natural conversational language. This feature helps to better identify customer intent and improve company responsiveness, increase conversion rates, and reduce operating costs. 
On January 25, 2012, RightNow was acquired by Oracle.

Intel Capital to Invest in Future of Automotive Technology

Intel Capital to Invest in Future of Automotive Technology

Intel Invests in Product Development and Research to Spur Innovation in the Connected Car

Intel Invests in Product Development and Research to Spur Innovation in the Connected Car

Social Media Boot Camp for Business

IBM Launches Global Boot Camps to Help Small and Midsize Businesses Build Social Media Skills



ARMONK, N.Y. - 29 Feb 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the expansion of a global skills initiative to educate clients and business partners on social media tools and techniques to showcase expertise and create new business opportunities. To join in the conversation around IBM's Social Media Boot Camps, visit LinkedIn.
With today's news, IBM is further investing in its clients and business partners across the world including emerging markets such as China, Australia and Saudi Arabia to develop the skills that will enable them to sharpen their social networking capabilities to build even stronger and more interactive ties with their clients.

The IBM eight week social media boot camp is available to its business partners to provide the education and skills necessary to successfully engage in social media and begin driving the conversation around their brand.   This initiative provides IBM business partners and clients access to one-on-one social media coaches who set measurable goals for building and exercising social acumen.

This customized curriculum is designed for organizations to become more comfortable and effective in their marketing and sales efforts.  By using social networking tools and techniques participants learn to integrate social media into their daily business activities.

"Social media and social networking have greatly impacted the way we interact and communicate in our personal lives, how we promote our personal brands," said IBM Spokesperson. "But the real power of these concepts are still in its infancy in the business world. There are limitless opportunities for businesses to engage with their employees, business partners and customers over these social channels to help make better business decisions and reach new markets."

IBM Business Partners Gets Social 


IBM Business Partner Starfire Technologies, Inc. was among the first organizations to enroll in IBM's Social Media Boot Camp. Prior to the program, Starfire's use of social media channels was limited. After enrolling in the eight week social skills program, Starfire is now leveraging social channels to re-architect the way it does business.

For example, as a result the tools and techniques offered by the Social Media Boot Camp, Starfire is reconstructing its company website, integrating social media tools and platforms to best interact with customers. The organization has transformed its business strategy by extending its reach through the social networks to create   significant interactions and two-way conversations with its customers.

"IBM's Social Media Boot Camp was instrumental in our understanding of how to effectively and strategically engage with our customers and business partners over social media platforms," said Mary Spurlock, Vice President of Marketing, Starfire Technologies, Inc..  "It also taught us enhanced ways to listen to our customers and engage in interactive conversations.  We learned to listen on the channels where our business partners and clients are participating, thus helping to identify and move opportunities faster through the pipeline. It's also helped us to create a valuable collaborative forum for marketing and client support."

Reaching Small and Midsize Businesses via Social
The amount SMBs spend on social media is set to almost double in 2012, according to recent market research. Almost two-thirds (64.4%) of SMBs currently market themselves via social media sites; however many still struggle in navigating the appropriate and relevant tools to harness business value for their organizations.
IBM Business Partner Key Information Systems serves SMBs in a variety of industries, encompassing 80 percent of the organization's client base, and agree that while social media is of profound interest to their clients, it is still posing a significant challenge. With Social Media Boot Camp, Key Information Services has not only better educated itself on how to better utilize social media resources, it is now sharing that knowledge with its clients and prospects.

"We're expanding and diversifying the way we connect with clients and prospects and honing in on what's relevant to SMBs," says Director of Marketing Pete Elliot, Key Information Systems. "We're hosting events where small and mid-sized organizations come together to learn about and collaborate on social media strategy. We're reaching new markets with creative social media marketing techniques. The IBM Social Media Bootcamp has helped take our efforts to a whole new level, further opening our eyes to the world of possibility and extending our ability to tap into new markets that we would have never reached without engaging over social media platforms."

After enrolling in IBM's Social Media Boot Camp, Key Information Systems has now integrated social into the work flow processes of every employee. Social has become a priority whether it's blogging or engaging with key constituents over Twitter, employees are dedicated to listening and interacting where their business partners, clients and prospects are talking.

IBM Business Partner  Profitecture has played a leading role in working with IBM to deliver their Social Media Boot Camps for Business Partners and their unique process is helping to extend IBM's prowess in guiding organizations' transformation into social businesses.
At IBM's PartnerWorld Leadership Conference, IBM and Profitecture will also host mini Social Media Boot Camp sessions on Thursday, March 1 where more than 100 IBM business partners from across the globe will participate to discuss the opportunities of social media on a global scale. Business partners can also continue to work with their IBM/Profitecture social media coaches after the Boot Camp program for more advanced training or to fine tune their social strategies.

IBM Analytics for Collaborative Patient Care

Society of Critical Care Medicine Taps IBM Analytics for Collaborative Patient Care

IBM Web Analytics Accelerates Global Collaboration of 16,000 Physicians and Nurses to Address Critical Care Needs
ARMONK, NY and MOUNT PROSPECT, IL - 29 Feb 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) is using IBM analytics to help its members and the wider medical community more effectively deliver care to critically ill patients around the globe. Working with IBM, SCCM is able to make relevant information for patient treatment more easily accessible to physicians, nurses and clinicians.
SCCM is a non-profit organization that connects 16,000 physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other clinicians in more than 100 countries to help address the needs of critical care patients, through education, research and advocacy.  The organization is using IBM Web analytics to mine through information generated as a result of search activity related to clinical issues in intensive care units (ICUs) such as sedation, sepsis, and mechanical ventilation.

Using IBM's Web analytics technology in collaboration with IBM Business Partner, Riverpoint Solutions Group, the society can glean insight into the focus that is most relevant or of interest to a specific  clinician and effectively deliver information and education options on clinical advances to that clinician in the future.   Based on available resources and access to medical knowledge in any part of the world, the level of care provided to patients can vary widely. Online learning has made clinical knowledge available to those treating patients in the developing world.

For years, professional education in organized medicine typically meant live events. Today, SCCM is moving education forward in the form of virtual engagements via Learn ICU, a Web site that hosts all of the Society's educational activities, best-practice webinars, and case-based simulations. SCCM members have access to all necessary information without having to travel or even leave their hospitals.

SCCM makes all relevant medical information and educational resources available through this  online collaborative information exchange.  In doing so, SCCM is addressing disparities in the standards of care around the world by providing members access to the most up-to-date clinical knowledge and the ability to collaborate with colleagues regardless of where they are based.

For example, when healthcare providers see a critically ill patient and are uncertain what to do, they can turn immediately to Learn ICU on a computer or mobile device to discover more information on the subject, including the latest research, past history and case studies -- anything SCCM has produced, searchable by topic. Information can then be immediately applied to a patient's care.

Prior Learn ICU, the Society would disseminate information broadly to all of its members without a specific focus to their specialty or clinical interests.  Now, the Society is able to identify strong relationships among an individual’s attendance at live training events,  webinars, and online self-directed education and compare it to demographic information like certifications, geographic region, or years of experience. As a result, the Society can target the right information and courses to the right physicians, nurses or pharmacists to ensure each is getting the right information at the right time to more effectively help save lives. 

Critical care is defined as multi-organ system dysfunction. in other words, one set of organs fails and then the next set fails rapidly and the next set fails rapidly. If you can't stop this cascading organ failure the patient will die.  Being trained in a single organ specialty -- for example, cardiology or nephrology -- is not enough. Critical care  physicians (known as “intensivists”) must look at the entire patient holistically to help prevent multiple organ failure and save the patient’s life.  

“We train physicians, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists around the world -- anyone who might work in the intensive care unit or might care for a critically ill patient,” said David Martin, CEO of the SCCM, which in 10 years has expanded its global presence in Europe and throughout Asia, Africa and South America and, last year alone, trained more than 9,000 medical professionals in its Fundamentals family of courses. “The needs of physicians are different from nurses and their needs are different from pharmacists.  By tapping into IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative we can better understand each professional's areas of interest and deliver the right information in their specialty that will help them provide better care for patients around the world."

The Learn ICU functions in a wide variety of environments with diverse Internet capabilities. IBM Web analytics allows SCCM to send targeted communications to direct a member to a specific content area on Learn ICU, based upon their medical specialty and geographic region. IBM web analytics technology lets organizations get more out of their web data by securing deep behavioral insights on individuals including who visited a web property and how they responded to online campaigns and social media efforts. As a result, businesses can operate more efficiently by taking action based on an enhanced picture of their customers and prospects.

"The enormous cost and the high mortality rates seen in ICUs puts more emphasis on the urgent need for new treatments and systems of care, implementation of new research findings and identification of priorities for critical care research," said Andy Monshaw, General Manager, IBM Midmarket Business.    "This information sharing platform can serve critical care colleagues worldwide with education videos and a social networking feature bringing expertise to health care providers together from all over the globe."  

For more information on the Society of Critical Care Medicine
For more information on RiverPoint Solutions Group
For more information on IBM Smarter Healthcare

HP Supports Patient Care at Runnymede Healthcare Centre

Press Release : February 29, 2012

HP Supports Patient Care at Runnymede Healthcare Centre in Canada

Topics:Converged InfrastructureInstant-On Enterprise
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario -- HP today announced that Runnymede Healthcare Centre has chosen HP Converged Infrastructure to support patient care as well as reduce IT administration time and costs.
Toronto-based Runnymede, which provides specialized medical, therapeutic and outpatient services to people affected by long-term chronic conditions, was subjected to considerable network downtime with an outdated data infrastructure. This resulted in delays when hospital staff accessed applications supporting patient care and in unreliable communication between staff and patients.
Since implementing HP LeftHand Storage and HP ProLiant Servers at its new facility, Runnymede no longer experiences data center downtime, which has greatly improved IT staff productivity. In addition, the hospital can fulfill its strategic vision of implementing an electronic patient record.
“The time we spent maintaining and repairing our old data infrastructure was eating into the time we needed to focus on applications required by clinical staff to improve patient care,” said Angela Copeland, chief information officer and privacy officer, Runnymede Healthcare Centre. “With HP Converged Infrastructure solutions, we’re now able to focus on clinical applications since the only attention our data infrastructure requires is the short time it takes to add capacity.”
HP LeftHand Storage, part of the HP Converged Storage portfolio, fuses scale-out storage software with HP ProLiant server hardware. This physical and virtual IT solution ensures high availability to reduce the risk of downtime. Business continuity is ensured by replicating data across a cluster of storage nodes. This provides continuous data availability in the event of an outage.
HP LeftHand Storage deployed at Runnymede applies this innovative approach to eliminate single points of failure across the storage area network, reducing risk without driving up costs. HP LeftHand Storage also reduces costs by allowing Runnymede to purchase storage based on its current needs, with the flexibility to add more capacity and performance as needed without disruptions.
In addition to HP Converged Storage, the healthcare provider chose HP ProLiant rack-mount servers as part of its HP Converged Infrastructure. These physical HP servers are virtualized with VMware vSphereto increase IT flexibility to scale up as hospital requirements expand.
“Runnymede struggled with an unstable IT environment that hampered access to applications that aid in patient care, which is the lifeblood for healthcare providers,” said Jeff Wilson, national sales manager, Storage, HP Canada. “Now with reliable access to data, staff can concentrate on providing the best possible care with confidence that the Centre’s data needs will scale with HP Converged Infrastructure.”
HP Converged Infrastructure is a core component of an Instant-On Enterprise. In a world of continuous connectivity, the Instant-On Enterprise embeds technology in everything it does to serve customers, employees, partners and citizens with whatever they need, instantly.
HP’s premier client event, HP Discover, takes place June 4-7 in Las Vegas.

Cities of the Future: Songdo, South Korea – Transportation

Cities of the Future: Songdo, South Korea – Transportation

Money App for Facebook

Serve from American Express Unveils Send, Receive and Request Money App for FacebookApp Allows Friends to Send, Receive and Request Money from Directly within Facebook
NEW YORK, NY,  February 29, 2012 -- 
Serve from American Express today announced an application that allows friends to send, receive and request money from directly within Facebook. The Serve app is currently the only application available on Facebook that allows friends to send, request and receive payments in just a few clicks.
"The way people exchange money is evolving, and so is Serve," said Dan Schulman, group president, Enterprise Growth, American Express. "We're constantly working to bring our customers a seamless and consistent payment experience -- one that makes sense for our increasingly social lives, whether that's paying a friend back for movie tickets or sending someone money for your share of the vacation house -- it can now be sent on Facebook."
Exchanging money with friends takes three simple steps: Choose your friend to send money to, enter the dollar amount, and click send. Facebook friends are automatically populated directly into the app's interface, so there is no need to worry about finding a friend's email address or gathering additional information. Once completed, a message is immediately posted to the recipient's Facebook wall providing directions on where to collect their money or to sign up for Serve. To request money the process is just as easy, choose a Facebook friend who owes you money, send a request and get paid back.
Unlike some other products in the market, Serve has no fees to send, receive or request money, no matter what funding method a customer chooses. For more information on Serve, visit www.serve.com.

U.S. Tax Code Favors Debt

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

U.S. Tax Code Encourages Corporations to Take on Debt

By STEVEN M. DAVIDOFF

Corporate America's love affair with debt is driven by a heavy subsidy, courtesy of the federal tax code. It's an unhealthy preference that the Obama administration is now reviewing.

The problem arises because the interest that corporations pay on their debt is deductible on their federal taxes.

To understand the effect of this deduction, imagine if you could deduct the interest you pay on your debt. I am not just talking about the deduction on your home mortgage. This would be a deduction for all of the interest paid on your credit card bills, auto loans and any other loans you had, including the one from Uncle Mikey.

What would be the effect? First, you would have more money in your pocket. That 10- or 15-something percent interest rate on your credit card would be effectively reduced by up to a third, depending upon your tax rate.

But because debt is now cheaper, you may be more likely to borrow to make purchases rather than purchase items outright. If so, you would end up taking on more aggregate debt and saving less. Before the 1986 tax overhaul, credit card interest could in fact be deducted. Congress eliminated this loophole, in part, because members thought it encouraged just this sort of behavior.

This is what is occurring in corporate America. Companies can finance investment from either debt or equity. But profit on an investment financed with equity - stock issued by the company - is taxed. In contrast, if the project is financed with debt, then only the profit after interest payments are made is taxed. This means debt-financed investments are cheaper than equity.

This creates a bias by corporations toward debt.

Apple Loophole Gives Developers Access to Photos


Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Apple Loophole Gives Developers Access to Photos

By NICK BILTON

SAN FRANCISCO - The private photos on your phone may not be as private as you think.

Developers of applications for Apple's mobile devices, along with Apple itself, came under scrutiny this month after reports that some apps were taking people's address book information without their knowledge.

As it turns out, address books are not the only things up for grabs. Photos are also vulnerable. After a user allows an application on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to have access to location information, the app can copy the user's entire photo library, without any further notification or warning, according to app developers.

It is unclear whether any apps in Apple's App Store are illicitly copying user photos. Although Apple's rules do not specifically forbid photo copying, Apple says it screens all apps submitted to the store, a process that should catch nefarious behavior on the part of developers. But copying address book data was against Apple's rules, and the company approved many popular apps that collected that information.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

The first time an application wants to use location data, for mapping or any other purpose, Apple's devices ask the user for permission, noting in a pop-up message that approval "allows access to location information in photos and videos." When the devices save photo and video files, they typically include the coordinates of the place they were taken - creating another potential risk.

"Conceivably, an app with access to location data could put together a history of where the user has been based on photo location," said David E. Chen, co-founder of Curio, a company that develops apps for iOS, Apple's mobile operating system. "The location history, as well as your photos and videos, could be uploaded to a server. Once the data is off of the iOS device, Apple has virtually no ability to monitor or limit its use."

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

News Release from EPA - OR Lumber Mill

Oregon lumber mill cited for toxic chemical leaks and violations

Contact: Hanady Kader, EPA Public Affairs, 206-553-0454, kader.hanady@epa.gov; Tristen Gardner, EPA PCBs Unit, 206-553-6240, gardner.tristen@epa.gov

(Seattle—Feb. 28, 2012) Sanders Wood Products Company in Liberal, Oregon was found to have a series of PCB leaks and other violations of federal PCB laws at its lumber mill, according to a settlement reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company will pay over $108,000 in penalties.

“There are clear standards for how to manage toxic chemicals like PCBs so they don’t harm people or the environment,” said Scott Downey, Manager of the Pesticides and PCBs Unit in EPA’s Seattle office. “This dangerous family of chemicals accumulates in the body and can be extremely difficult and expensive to clean up.”

During an inspection in 2009, an EPA inspector identified leaks in three PCB-containing transformers. Federal law requires repair, containment or replacement of leaking transformers containing polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs. In addition, the transformers were not properly maintained and lacked necessary labels.

PCBs are known carcinogens and can harm the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. Congress banned PCBs in 1979, but they may be present in products and materials produced before the ban including electrical transformers, capacitors, oil used in motors, oil-based paint, plastics and insulation.

As part of the settlement, the company confirmed it has removed the leaking transformers from the facility. The areas where the PCBs leaked have also been cleaned up. The company has also certified it is currently in compliance with all applicable requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act at each of its facilities.

http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/payment-processor-for-internet-poker-companies-pleads-guilty-in-manhattan-federal-court-to-bank-fraud-money-laundering-and-gambling-offenses

http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/payment-processor-for-internet-poker-companies-pleads-guilty-in-manhattan-federal-court-to-bank-fraud-money-laundering-and-gambling-offenses

http://www.fbi.gov/dallas/press-releases/2012/dallas-doctor-arrested-for-role-in-nearly-375-million-health-care-fraud-scheme

http://www.fbi.gov/dallas/press-releases/2012/dallas-doctor-arrested-for-role-in-nearly-375-million-health-care-fraud-scheme

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/february/financial-crimes_022712/financial-crimes_022712

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/february/financial-crimes_022712/financial-crimes_022712

News Release from EPA - Fremont Facility

For Immediate Release: February 28, 2012
Contact: Margot Perez-Sullivanperezsullivan.margot@epa.gov

U.S. EPA Fines Fremont facility $62,500 for Hazardous Waste Violations

SAN FRANCISCO—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined Western Digital Corporation, a wafer fabrication facility that generates large quantities of hazardous wastes including solvents, acids and sulfates, $62,500 for the improper management of hazardous waste at its Fremont facility.

A 2010 inspection at Western Digital Corporation uncovered violations of federal standards governing the handling and storage of hazardous waste. In this case, the facility manufactures    components used to make hard drives, using a variety of hazardous materials.  Among the  violations were failure to properly label and seal containers, failure to control tank emissions, failure to adequately train personnel, failure to monitor equipment, failure to provide an adequate contingency plan, and failure to provide a leak detection system,

Under the EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act program, hazardous substances must be stored, handled and disposed of using measures that safeguard public health and the environment.

For more information on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, please visit the EPA’s web site at:  http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/rcra/index.html

http://www.fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2012/lebanon-trucking-company-owners-indicted-for-850-000-scheme-to-defraud-tracker-marine?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kansas-city-press-releases&utm_content=75005

http://www.fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2012/lebanon-trucking-company-owners-indicted-for-850-000-scheme-to-defraud-tracker-marine?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kansas-city-press-releases&utm_content=75005

News Release from the FBI - Kansas City Division

Former Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to $540,000 Embezzlement, Tax Fraud

U.S. Attorney’s Office February 27, 2012
  • Western District of Missouri (816) 426-3122
— filed under:

JEFFERSON CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former employee of Jefferson Bank in Jefferson City, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to embezzling more than $540,000 from the bank and another employer and to tax fraud.

Kelley Lee Steiner, 52, of Jefferson City, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to the charges contained in a federal information.

Steiner was employed by Jefferson Bank as vice president and secretary to the board of directors from June 14, 1999 to Nov. 12, 2008. Steiner served as personal executive assistant to former bank president Harold W. Westhues. By pleading guilty today, Steiner admitted that she embezzled a total of $487,199 from both the bank and from Westhues’ personal checking account. Steiner also admitted that she embezzled $54,000 while employed at Modern Business Systems. By failing to report the embezzled funds as income on her federal tax returns from 2005 to 2008, Steiner caused tax harm to the United Sates in the amount of $106,192.

Steiner had been given authority to write checks on Westhues’ personal account and sign his name to those checks in order to pay his personal expenses. During an audit of Westhues’ personal checking account, the bank discovered that Steiner had, without authority, diverted funds totaling approximately $378,000 for her personal benefit, which included writing checks to herself and paying her personal credit card bills and her children’s college expenses.

Steiner also prepared paperwork for the bank to reimburse Westhues for work-related expenses incurred by him which were typically charged to his credit card. Investigation determined that Steiner had diverted approximately $19,070 in valid reimbursement funds from Westhues, and used them to pay on her personal credit cards. Steiner also submitted false documentation to the bank for work-related expenses purportedly incurred by Westhues, which were then reimbursed by the bank, including the re-submission of valid credit card statements which had already been previously reimbursed by the bank. It was discovered that an additional $29,947 had been diverted by Steiner to pay on her personal credit card accounts.

Steiner was responsible for paying the board of directors for participating in board meetings, audit meetings, and other special bank meetings. Board members were paid $400 in cash for each meeting they attended. During a review of board fees paid by the bank in 2008, a bank officer identified approximately $60,400 in cash embezzled by Steiner that had purportedly been paid as board fees.

Under federal statutes, Steiner is subject to a sentence of up to 33 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1,250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Missouri Division of Finance.

News Release from CA Technologies - Security for MS SharePoint

CA Technologies Extends Content-Aware Identity and Access Management, Delivers Security Solution for Microsoft SharePoint

Company Enhances CA SiteMinder, CA DataMinder to Drive Next-Generation IAM and Improved Information Security, Risk Management
SAN FRANCISO, February 27, 2012, - RSA Conference – CA Technologies (CA: NASDAQ) today announced advancements to further build-out its Content-Aware Identity and Access management (IAM) vision and deliver a security solution for Microsoft® SharePoint® to help improve information security, reduce risk and meet compliance mandates.
Traditional IAM stops at the point of access. CA Technologies Content-Aware IAM vision, a next-generation approach, takes IAM a step further to help control users, their access and how they handle information. This innovative approach helps organizations protect critical information from inappropriate use or disclosure.
“Balancing business productivity and enablement with security and data protection is one of the top priorities for the Chief Security Officer. This is made more difficult by today’s collaborative environments that include extended teams from within and outside an organization,” said Mike Denning, general manager, Security, CA Technologies. “For example, there are more than 65,000 Microsoft SharePoint customers, which equates to a lot of users accessing a lot of data. The challenge is to make sure the right users access the right data and handle it in the right way, which requires a layered security approach that includes Content-Aware Identity and Access Management from CA Technologies.”
To help address these challenges, CA Technologies is adding capabilities and integrating new releases of CA SiteMinder® and CA DataMinder™ (formerly CA DLP), to deliver a Content-Aware security solution and help organizations protect the information stored, accessed and used in the Microsoft SharePoint environment. The CA SiteMinder and CA DataMinder updates, and resulting solution for SharePoint, will be available in March.
“Organizations are challenged with unknown Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that exists within documents residing across the enterprise,” said Jeremy Britton, director, security & privacy services, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “The ability to identify and classify potential data risks in content, and control access based on the levels of risk, allows organizations to more effectively manage regulatory compliance and protection of sensitive data.”
CA Technologies Solution for Microsoft SharePoint
As organizations expand their use of Microsoft SharePoint, they may face accelerated growth of siloed SharePoint instances, the proliferation of sensitive data across the SharePoint environment and increased compliance mandates.
CA DataMinder includes CA DataMinder™ Classification, which dynamically scans, locates and classifies sensitive content stored within Microsoft SharePoint, including intellectual property, financial information and PII such as social security numbers, credit card numbers and other employee relevant data. CA SiteMinder 12.5 will be enhanced to use the content classification information from CA DataMinder as input for access policies to more precisely determine whether a user should be granted access to a document. This combination will provide more fine-grained and better defined access control, helping to improve the security of data without hampering productivity.
CA Technologies security solution for Microsoft SharePoint will provide the following capabilities:
• Convenient authentication through CA SiteMinder single sign-on, authentication, authorization and auditing;
• Content-aware access management with automatic data discovery, classification and content-aware access control; and
• Information lifecycle control for SharePoint data from creation, storage, access, distribution and disposal.
“We have supported many implementations for IAM systems – all improving security postures for those customers. A next-generation IAM approach that classifies and flags documents with sensitive content and then associates identity and access policies with that content will further enhance information protection,” said Jason Wilcox, manager, Security Practice at YASH Technologies, a leading technologies and services outsourcing partner. “We are excited about the advancements that CA Technologies is making in the market, and look forward to working with our clients to advance the way they implement identity and access management.”
CA Technologies first delivered capability for Content-Aware IAM by associating content and data policies with identities and roles managed by CA IdentityMinder™ (formerly CA Identity Manager). This helps to better control and protect information as users and groups change within organizations. By enabling CA SiteMinder to use content classification information, data security is strengthened by adding the access element.
In addition, as organizations begin to shift from IT rationalization and optimization to deliver business service innovation and growth, CA Technologies Content-Aware IAM technologies help enable and secure organizations to achieve business outcomes such as speed, cost and risk efficiencies and improved performance. The key is to strike the balance between security and business enablement.
The CA SiteMinder 12.5 release will include a number of additional core improvements including simplified management, support for Web 2.0 / Identity 2.0 technologies and enhanced federation management. Visit the CA Security Management blog for further details on the new releases of CA SiteMinder and CA DataMinder.
CA IAM Solutions Adopt the “Minder” Brand
Building on the strong brand equity of CA SiteMinder, CA Technologies has renamed the products and solutions in its security portfolio using the “Minder” naming convention. Visit http://bit.ly/wtzJCN to see the new names.

News Release from BMC - Remedy ITSM

CUSTOMER SUCCESS: TUI InfoTec Upgrades to BMC Software’s Remedy ITSM Solution

The IT service provider of one of Europe’s leading travel companies teams with BMC and ComConsult to deliver better customer service


BERLIN, Feb. 28, 2012 –  BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC), the leader in IT Service Management (ITSM), today announced that TUI InfoTec GmbH (TUI InfoTec), the IT services provider to Europe’s largest travel group, TUI AG, has enhanced customer service and IT systems support with BMC’s Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM) Suite
The BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite solution’s implementation consolidated a legacy system in TUI InfoTec’s data centers and assisted them in rapidly pursuing their business goal of becoming compliant with IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) standards. The adaptable ITIL solution, with its globally recognized standards, eliminates the need for hard-coded customization and costly upgrades by the TUI InfoTec team, enabling them to streamline TUI InfoTec’s ITIL implementation through configuration to maintain the highest levels of service management.  
BMC and ComConsult, a provider of IT management and enterprise solutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, worked closely to analyze the total business case, including what cost savings TUI InfoTec could expect by using the BMC Remedy solution, as well as the project’s projected return on investment. As a result of implementation, TUI InfoTec has experienced improved productivity, full measurement of metrics and key performance indicators as well as ongoing cost savings.    
From a customer perspective, the changeover was effectively seamless. Following an innovative development and deployment methodology, ComConsult hosted a series of workshops aimed at rapid prototyping of BMC’s ITSM solution. The approach accelerated the implementation process and enabled the system to be highly operational for its new users. According to TUI InfoTec, the company had more than 300 individuals using the new system on the first day of implementation with no outages or issues preventing it from providing services.
“We are very pleased to work with BMC and ComConsult,” said Michael Cares, executive director for TUI InfoTec. “Their holistic approach spanned the technical requirements of the ITSM platform and addressed essential processes, making the implementation successful from day one.”
“We are proud to have TUI InfoTec as a customer and we look forward to working with them in service management,” said Jason Andrew, vice president, worldwide strategic alliances and partners, BMC. “This project is a superb example of great collaboration between a thought-leading customer, BMC and our partner, ComConsult.”
Organizations like TUI InfoTec rely on BMC solutions to drive greater efficiency in their service desk and IT operations. Learn how the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite solution helps companies meet their growing service desk and IT management needs at Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM) Suite.