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FTC member says lawsuits focus on cyber failures(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) NORTHFIELD, Vt. (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission has investigated hundreds of cyber security breaches at companies across the country, but it has only sued 53 times, one of the organization's five commissioners said Monday during a cyber security conference at Norwich University in Northfield. FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said the organization she helps guide tends to file lawsuits when it finds systematic failures in a company's data security practices, not when there is an isolated vulnerability in a product or service. "The fact that a company experiences a security breech does not mean that the Federal Trade Commission will come calling, let alone will file a lawsuit," Brill said. Brill, a Vermont resident who once worked as an assistant Vermont attorney general, was the keynote speaker during the event sponsored by the National Cyber Security Alliance. The group is holding a series of similar conferences across the country to encourage individuals and companies to do more to protect online information. Norwich University is the nation's oldest private military academy. It trains students in cyber security and traditional military skills and prepares many for jobs with industry and the government. In introducing Brill, Norwich President Richard Schneider said warfare is evolving from attacks with explosives and traditional weapons to cyber threats to the nation's critical infrastructure, such as the electric grid. "Non-kinetic attacks on the United States will be the warfare of the future," Schneider said. Brill focused more on threats to the information of private citizens. She mentioned two cases the FTC brought against the makers of popular online applications that potentially exposed users' health or financial information. "These companies were not tripped up by bad luck. Our complaints alleged that they overrode more secure default settings and failed to test adequately what would happen after they did so," Brill said. She said concern grows as more routine daily items end up connected — from watches to cars or even clothing — potentially exposing others to personal health information, finances or everyday activities in a citizen's home. "As more devices become connected to the Internet the potential for more information about the most intimate details of our lives slipping into the wrong hands will grow unless appropriate safeguards are put into place," Brill said. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |