Hacker Incidents Probed Council member Larry Smarr, strategic adviser at the University of California's School of Engineering in San Diego, suggested that the FTC consider a hacker incident that happened just last week as an example of the growing threat of identity theft online. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and former president Bill Clinton were among the possible victims. Many, including Gates, Dell Computer Corp. Chairman Michael Dell and others, have urged the government not to intervene by implementing more regulations regarding privacy and protection of personal information online. Steven Kobrin, a professor of multinational management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, has attended the last seven WEF summits and was among the victims of the latest hacker incident. According to Kobrin, many industry executives have been outspoken opponents of regulation during past WEF summits and don't think there's a problem.
Regulation tends to be a dirty word.
We maintain records for a 90-day period. That's longer than most companies. Ryan said the theft from the WEF server is a good example of the growing threat of online-related identity theft, but technically, it's not a criminal case of identity theft. For more coverage of this issue, visit Computerworld's Security Watch page. Inc. All rights reserved.