Messaging News - December 2008 - (Page 8) S H O R T TAKES Delay in Red Flag Rules The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that it would delay penalties until May 1, 2009 for organizations not in compliance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act’s Red Flag Rules. This provides a welcomed relief for those defined as “creditors” who have been scrambling to achieve compliance by the original November 1 deadline. Organizations affected by the FTC’s delay in enforcement include healthcare companies, vehicle dealers, utility companies, debt collectors and others. The reason cited for the extension was the lack of communication to organizations subject to the regulation—many are unaware of its existence or only recently learned that they must comply. Visit www.redflagrules.net for more. Election Spam According to Cisco IronPort in just the four days between September 22 and September 25 its Threat Operations Center estimated 5 million messages were sent by spammers that offered fake political news and included zipped attachments harboring malware. In addition to the malware sending spammers, this election saw the highest percentage of political email sent from, or on behalf of, a candidate. While the advocacy email may not be dangerous, it was prolific and mostly unsolicited, however it is not considered spam under the CAN SPAM Act because of its political nature. Obama’s Blackberry While the rest of us may be in the digital age with email and texting the de facto method for communicating, it is not so for the President of the United States. The Presidential Records Act (PRA), enacted in 1978 after President Richard Nixon destroyed documents in the Watergate scandal, requires all presidential and vice-presidential records to be placed into public archives. Written, recorded and electronic correspondence by the country’s chief leaders is supposed to be released to the public 12 years after the conclusion of a presidential administration. Due to this, and the need for heightened security, it is expected that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama will continue the precedence set by President George W. Bush and will stop his practice of using his BlackBerry as his primary means of communicating. Encrypting in Nevada The case for encrypting email was further built for those in Nevada that must adhere to a new law that went into affect October 1. According to Michael Osterman of Osterman Research, the law requires organizations operating in the state to encrypt personal information sent outside of the organization. A similar, but more restrictive, law will go into effect on January 1 in Massachusetts. California already has such a law in SB1386. Says Osterman: “Forty-three additional states have enacted laws similar in scope to SB1386 since the passage of that law and the remaining six are likely to do so in the near future.” Bad Economy Makes Spam Tempting True to form, brilliant but nefarious spammers and phishers are taking advantage of the economic climate with an increase in offerings and phishing attempts regarding bank closures, mortgage deals and more. Unfortunately, people who might not otherwise bite are more susceptible in this recessionary environment and are taking the bait. They are not the only spam makers however, working at a furious pace. The New York Times has noted that for Hormel Foods, makers of the real Spam, times have never been better. Plant workers have been working overtime to produce the canned pork and spiced ham, noting that spam is “the iconic hard-times food in the American pantry.” 8 MESSAGING NEWS DECEMBER 2008 http://www.redflagrules.net
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