CIO Insight Staff

I don’t think I’m being paranoid. I think I’m being realistic,” says Allan McLaughlin, senior vice president and CTO of LexisNexis Group, the New York City-based data aggregator. “But you can’t be too careful anymore,” he continues. “Worst-case scenario: There are vendors selling security products that, on the face, look strong, but are actually designed […]

When it comes to protecting the data held on LexisNexis’ voluminous databases, CTO Allan McLaughlin has nothing but the best intentions. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of everyone gaining access to that information. In the battle against malicious intruders, McLaughlin says the key is discerning intent, identifying anomalies and acting quickly. CIO Insight: How […]

Experts say that the first thing hackers do when they break into a database containing personal information, such as those of ChoicePoint and Acxiom, is look up themselves and their friends. Besides proving that hackers are a hopelessly self-absorbed lot, this tendency also illustrates that they are not always as smart as we might think. […]

As fears about outsourcing even the most critical elements of IT continue to abate, there is at least one responsibility many CIOs don’t want to give up. “I don’t know if I could ever reach a level of comfort to outsource security,” says Gregory Coan, CIO of Textainer, a $370 million global manager of marine […]

Due Diligence: Bubble Trouble By Eric Nee Could it be that just five years after the frenzied Internet bubble, we are in the throes of yet more irrational exuberance? Columnist Eric Nee thinks so, and the dozens of security start-ups pouring out of Silicon Valley seem to back him up. But there is something different […]

As part of its effort to shore up the defenses of its 4.5 million customers’ networks, LexisNexis Group has made some quick changes to its access policy. In addition, the company is looking into working with antivirus and antispyware vendors to provide discounted versions of their products to LexisNexis customers. The four-part Customer Security Program […]

As the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, in Washington, D.C., Marc Rotenberg is intensely focused on protecting your privacy. But in this age of counterterrorism, RFID tracking, and one-to-one marketing, Rotenberg seems, at times, to be overmatched. CIO Insight: How big is the privacy problem? Rotenberg: We’ve always focused on emerging civil […]

The money the federal government collects from health care fraud and abuse should go toward helping providers implement an electronic medical record, Tommy Thompson, the former secretary of Health and Human Services, said Tuesday. Speaking at a Nashville Health Care Council briefing, Thompson said the $1.8 billion HHS collects from this program currently goes toward […]

To aid in the hurricane relief effort, the Red Cross is deploying a series of IT implementations including satellite telephones, portable satellite dishes, specially equipped communications trucks, high- and low-band radio systems, and generator-powered wireless computer networks. Read more about how IT is being used in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort at Health-IT World.

Microsoft officials have admitted one of their biggest challenges in continuing to grow the company’s Windows business is the impression among some of its installed base that older Windows versions are good enough. The users of Windows 95, which turns ten years old on Wednesday, are a case in point. Check out any of a […]

Originally a first-person shooter game developed as a tactical training tool for the Army, the military has now adapted it for use in conjunction with therapy for treatment of post traumatic stress syndrome in veterans returning from Iraq. So far, about 50 veterans have participated in the program with reports of success. Read the full […]

Mattel’s world-class competitive intelligence system crunches sales reports, children’s play-pattern studies, and even findings on where kids go online. The system picked up signals that young girls, heavily influenced by the gyrations of pop star Britney Spears, wanted a doll bolder and brasher than Mattel’s pert-and-pale Barbie. Yet, today, MGA’s hip-hop cool Bratz threaten Barbie’s […]