Privacy & Security Weekly News: Expert concerned about NSA snooping on Canadians, state-sponsored hacking & more

Toronto-based expert provides unfiltered commentary on the week's most impactful events.

TORONTO, June 10, 2013 /CNW/ - As the global outcry about US surveillance of Internet and telephone communications reaches fever pitch, notable Canadian data security expert Claudiu Popa wonders how many of the 3 billion daily intercepted calls include Canadians.

President Obama indicated that the NSA's focus isn't on monitoring the activities of Americans but on foreign 'bad actors' and 'folks who might engage in terrorism'. However, Claudiu Popa, author of books on data security, raises serious concerns about the privacy of Canadians' email, cloud storage and social media: "if we are informed that our communications have been secretly monitored, collected and stored without consent since 2008, how can we trust that our privacy is being respected?"

The recent revelation that 5 million Americans have government security clearance is indicative of a systemic problem. Claudiu added "To put things into perspective, Canada's rural population is about that size. I am surprised at the frequent US declarations of outrage that follow each subsequent information leak. In my industry, if you operate according to the principle of security-by-obscurity, you can forget about any initiative that relies on secrecy. It simply makes no sense."

Claudiu's latest article on NSA's surveillance practices is available on the SecurityandPrivacy.ca Blog: http://popa.ca/NSAprivacy

Other current articles authored by Claudiu Popa:

+ Gmail warns Canadian users that their accounts may be targeted by state-sponsored hackers. http://popa.ca/GovernmentHacking presents the sobering reality that these unnamed government security attacks may originate in the U.S., China, even Canada.

+ New study suggests that the detection rate of security software is as low as 5%. Does this false sense of security risk making things worse for individuals and companies?
http://popa.ca/MalwareDetection

A noted speaker and lecturer, Claudiu advises executives on security and privacy management, surveillance, compliance and all matters involving data protection. Clients include financial institutions, healthcare organizations, national associations and government agencies.

Established in 1989, Toronto-based Informatica is Canada's trusted source for standardized security audits, privacy assessments and employee awareness training: www.SecurityandPrivacy.ca

SOURCE: Informatica Corporation - Information Security/Risk Management