Expect targeted attacks after massive Epsilon email breach, say experts

Database of stolen addresses is a gold mine for hackers and scammers

Security experts warned users to be on the watch for targeted email attacks after a breach at a major marketing firm that may have put millions of addresses in the hands of hackers and scammers.

What happened? Epsilon Interactive last Friday announced that unknown intruders had broken into one of its email servers and accessed the names and email accounts of some of its 2,500 corporate customers. Epsilon has not disclosed how many accounts in total were exposed in the breach. Some say it is the largest breach ever involving that kind of data, meaning that tens of millions of email addresses were likely compromised.

I've never heard of Epsilon. Why do they have my name and email address? Epsilon provides email and customer loyalty services to more than 2,500 corporations, including seven of the top 10 Fortune 100 companies. The company sends more than 40 billion emails annually on behalf of these clients. So even if you haven't heard of it before, chances are high that your bank or your favorite retailer or hotel chain is using Epsilon for email and other services. The company touts itself as the world's largest permission-based email marketing provider and is believed to store more than 250 million email addresses.

To read more about this breach and how you can protect yourself, click here.

Troubleshooting:

How to save money, time and your sanity

Many of my clients ask us to help them over the phone. We do this cheerfully.  However, most of the time, I get the hysterical call - "Vic, I've been pulling my hair out trying to...". I found a great article in Computerworld magazine that will offer a tried and true methodology for troubleshooting and helping you sort out your voice and data hiccups. We offer a lot of help on our website - so click here to check out our online helpdesk and click here to read the article from Computerworld.

I want my ____ at work!

Fill in the blank with: my iPad, my Android phone, or my Galaxy Tab...

Every morning, when my kids lived here, I would call them downstairs for breakfast. My youngest (a.k.a. Mr. Charming) would try his luck daily. "But, Dad, I NEED COCOA PUFFS". "No, son", says the short order cook (a.k.a me), "you need breakfast". It seems like the same thing is happening today in the workplace. Everyone - and based on the lines outside the Apple stores recently, that can't be much of an exaggeration- wants to bring their iPad (or iPad2) to work, use their iPhone or Droid instead of the company issued phones, not to mention a Mac. The Motorola Xoom is a hybrid that maybe even defies categorization - and I am sure that if you own one, you want to bring it to work. This creates a number of headaches. I would strongly suggest you consider the following issues:

1.     Data security- when an employee can access data from your company, is that data going to be secure on his device? Can someone else breach his security on that device and access your data?

2.     Are you paying for needless surfing? With the new AT&T pricing plan for Internet access, using the iPhone or Droid can cost you a premium if you exceed the total amount of data usage on your plan. If your employee wants to use a smart phone and you are paying for the mobile plans, make sure your plan matches the increased usage that comes with a smart phone - before you agree!

3.     Is that Droid safe? Can it compromise your network? There have been malware cases reported by users whose smart phones use the Droid operating system. If you let the phone on your office network- is your network secure?

4.     Are the new toys/devices going to increase productivity or increase distraction? Last year the mantra was reducing costs. Now, the new mantra is improving productivity.

5.     If one of your top people- C level - brings their device to work, are you going to have the infrastructure in place to meet their expectations? Do you have enough wireless access points? Enough bandwidth?

6.     Continuation of above. If one of your top people brings their device to work, are you (and your staff) going to have to contort your systems to enable the device(s) to work on it and meet their expectations? Case in point- if they get a smart phone, does your voice messaging client work with their device? Are there apps for that device that require additional (unplanned) expense?

7.     Are the devices that are coming to work going to be (today's) influencers in your upcoming (tomorrow's) IT decisions? If "John" in sales brings his iPad and the VP of marketing decides that everyone needs one, will your budget get blindsided?

8.     If you are using SaaS applications - do you have enough licenses?

9.     Is your staff going to have to support devices that they are unfamiliar with- and be made to look "less than"?

I don't have answers for you - but I think that there is no "one size fits all" solution. However, you should consider these nine issues before the barrage of devices hits you!