Information security breach at 'The New York Times' is one scary story

No company -- no person -- is immune. When it comes to information security breaches, maybe it's best (no endorsement implied) to remember the motto of the security company that helped The New York Times get to the bottom of a recent attack: "The go-to people for when (not if) attacks get through." Emphasis on the "when (not if)" part.

Karen Goulart

This week's SearchCIO.com Searchlight starts off with The Times' own article about the breach, a fascinating post mortem detailing a four-month infiltration of reporters' work and home computers as part of a larger campaign by the Chinese government to attack journalists. Sure, this story involves complicated international politics, but it's also a cautionary tale and a must-read on the anatomy of a hacking -- how it was stopped and why you can never, ever let down your guard.

And if that doesn't have you sufficiently shaken, read on and be freaked out by Facebook's new feature. It's not all gloom and doom, however, as we find that "big data" might finally live up to its hype by helping to save the world. Not bad!

• Some people tear into a writer with a scathing letter to the editor when they don't like a newspaper article. The Chinese government allegedly prefers to tear into a newspaper's information security.
• Even if your company doesn't have a Facebook presence, the social network's impending Graph Search feature could be a security threat to your company. How? By employees who do use Facebook oversharing about work.

• Check out SearchCIO.com's own coverage of these topics

  Smart security spending requires assigning a value to information

  Is mobile device virtualization the answer to BYOD?

  A 'big data' veteran talks fundamentals of big data infrastructure

• It looks cool, works well and is loaded with awesome apps: It seems the new BlackBerry Z10 has everything smartphone-loving consumers could ask for, including wow-worthy fully sandboxed business/personal modes. Now here's why it's probably going to fail.
• The CIO versus chief marketing officer (CMO) battle for ultimate control of big data will rage on through 2013, explains blogger Gil Press. Weapons of choice include TCO for the CIO and ROI for the CMO -- and Ewoks may or may not be involved at some point.
• We're informed just about daily how big data is changing the world -- Bill Gates believes it will help save the world.
• Predictions are more interesting when they skew from the expected; that's why we liked this big data outlook for 2013.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Karen Goulart, Features Writer.