Retailers Pushing Back on PCI

The largest retail lobby in the world, the National Retail Federation, recently sent notice to the PCI Security Standards Council that they disagree with the standards put forth by Visa International, American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, and MasterCard Worldwide. In which they made their own suggestions on how to better protect credit card data.

The letter, from the SVP and CIO David Hogan, from National Retail Federation to Bob Russo the General Manager of PCI Security Standards Council makes the claim that PCI DSS places much of the burden of protecting credit card data onto the retailers themselves. Which, in my own personal understanding of the 12 step PCI DSS Standard I would have to say is true. I would even go so far as to say the retailers are being unfairly targeted to front the costs and forced to hold onto the data for a specified period.

Even more interesting is the fact that many of the credit card companies themselves are not yet compliant with the standards themselves, and are placing extremely high fines onto retailers that are yet to become complaint in the time frame set forth in their terms.

David Hogan suggests that if the retailers did not have to retain the data for such long periods, at times which can be up to 18 months, they would be less susceptible to crimes and fraud that occurs even with these standards in place.

I also agree with David Hogan, and hope others will join with him in saying so. I do think that overall PCI should be implemented but the credit card companies must share the burden and should reduce the time that retailers have to retain such data. In other words, to put a twist on another saying, and I quote, "If it's not there, they wont come."

For more on this please check out the following:

PCI Security Standards Council

David Hogans' Letter

H5N1 Virues Has Mutated

The H5N1 has mutated into a new strain increasing the potential for a pandemic.

It is being reported that though the new strain is not itself fully a pandemic strain it has already been discovered in both Africa and Europe.

Cargill inc., Issues Recall

Cargill Inc., has issued a recall of over 800,000 pounds of hamburger meat due to E. coli contamination. Cargill is recalling meat from a plant located in Butler, Wisconsin which supply's the hamburger meat to Sam's Club which is a division of Wal-Mart.

As mentioned in our earlier report/post Topps Meat shut down after recalling hamburger meat tainted with E. coli as well.

I'll keep an eye on this and report updates as they come in. Hopefully it will not be as near as big as the earlier recall.

Topps Meat Shuts Down

After being in business since the 1940's, Topps Meat becomes a casualty of a huge recall of its famous hamburger meat. The company announced it will be closing its doors Effective Immediately on October 5th 2007 after being in business for 67 years.

The recall involved approximately 21.7 million pounds of ground meat after it was discovered to be contaminated with E. coli, and 30 confirmed cases of illness so far nation wide.

In a public statement Anthony D’Urso, Chief Operating Officer said; “In one
week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a
company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large. We sincerely
regret the impact this will have on our employees, our customers and suppliers, and the
community. Most of all, we regret that our products have been linked by public health
agencies to recently reported illnesses. We hope and pray for the full recovery of those
individuals.”

Though the practice is considered to be safe, and not illegal some are pointing to the fact that Topps Meat had a practice of "carrying over" meat from one day to the next without providing a separate batch number. When a problem occurs it makes tracking a possible contamination more difficult and results in larger recalls due to several days worth of productions being possibly contaminated.

Apparently Executives declined to comment on weather they had a plan in place to prevent the closing, why they collapsed so quickly and weather they could have taken earlier steps to thwart the closing of the company.

So, it is unclear at this time weather they had a business continuity plan in place for such an event or not. However, I feel it reinforces the need for such a plan to be in place. Ask yourself, can your company afford not to have one?

Secuity Breach at De Anza College

De Anza College located in Cupertino, CA. is reporting that a laptop was taken from the home of a math teacher who was not named on August 24, 2007. The theft was not reported until August 27, 2007.

The laptop contained the Social Security numbers of approximately 4,375 students who took a math class from the teacher at the school.

While the laptop is password protected and the theft is being investigated by local authorities, officials at the school are asking concerned students who took a math class between the years of 1991 to 2003 and 2005 to the present to call Kathleen Moberg De Anza's Dean of Admissions & Records.

She can be reached by calling 408-864-8292 or through email mobergkathleenfhda.edu.

For more on the story you can reference these articles:

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_6825076

http://www.nbc11.com/news/14063454/detail.html