EU/US Bank data transfer deal reached

EUobserver.com reports today that EU justice ministers approved a provisional bank data transfer deal with the United States, allowing American anti-terrorist investigators to access European financial transaction data for another nine months.

The interim agreement had sparked controversy among European Greens and Liberals, who cited data privacy concerns and slammed member states for "rushing" to get the deal done before the European Parliament acquires more powers in this field. A day later, with the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the legislature would have had a bigger say on the agreement.

Read the entire story here: http://euobserver.com/9/29072/?rk=1

European Commission consultation on e-invoicing

The European Commission has published today the report of expert group on e-Invoicing. The group was mandated to design a European e-Invoicing framework, to contribute to the uptake of open and interoperable electronic invoicing solutions within the EU. Particular emphasis was put on the needs of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The report, which does not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, will be open for consultation until 26 February 2010.

e-invoicing, short for electronic invoicing, is the electronic transfer of billing and payment information, via the Internet or other electronic means between the parties - businesses, the public sector, consumers - involved in commercial transactions.
Compared to paper invoices, e-Invoices may offer huge advantages for companies - they are said to be easier to process, they reach the customer faster and can be stored centrally at very low cost. A recent report predicts potential annual benefits of up to €40 billion across Europe in the business-to-business field alone

Source and further reading: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/e-invoicing/

20% Discount for ARMA members on PCI Europe on 3 December in Brussels

The information available at this event will add real value to your business and your department. It will focus on how to maximise the business value of PCI DSS compliance by integrating it into an enterprise-wide risk-based security strategy at a time when they must also keep a careful eye on budgetary constraints.

To view the agenda please click here.

Value in attending:
This year's agenda is designed to overcome issues across the spectrum of data security compliance and risk management. You will take away a great deal of practical information on a number of topics related to PCI DSS compliance and IT Security, including:

• Approaching IT and transaction environments to reach security in the most intelligent way
• Avoiding pitfalls: the things that can go wrong when implementing PCI DSS and how to avoid them
• Matching solution paths to wider business goals in order to ensure security does not mean answering single compliance or business requirements
• Understanding issues created by grey areas; avoiding delay to, and increased expense of, compliance programs
• Managing technical audits; understanding the depth necessary to reach compliance
• Creating wider business value for internal customers and integrating compliance into existing enterprise programmes
• Giving PCI DSS business value by making it work for you
• For further information, please visit the PCI Portal
  
  Who is the forum designed for:
  This forum is specifically designed specifically for those responsible for securing I.T. and transaction environments in the payment card industry, including:
  - PCI DSS Project managers
  - Risk or Compliance officers
  - IT Security professionals
  - IT professionals
  
  To book your place please contact Aneta Atanasova or alternatively you can register online.

EU’s cyber security agency, ENISA launches a comprehensive, new report on Cloud Computing

How can businesses and governments get the obvious benefits of cloud computing without putting their organisation at risk? The EU's cyber security agency, ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) answers this question in a comprehensive, new report on "Cloud Computing: Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security". It covers the technical, policy and legal implications and most importantly, makes concrete recommendations for how to address the risks and maximise the benefits for users.

Get the entire story here: http://www.enisa.europa.eu/media/press-releases/enisa-clears-the-fog-on-cloud-computing-security-1

EU stalls bank data deal with US ahead of Lisbon Treaty

According to EUObserver.com, opposition from four EU member states to a draft agreement between the EU and US allowing the use of banking data in anti-terrorist investigations is likely to delay a decision until after 1 December, drawing the European Parliament into the decision making process.

Citing data privacy concerns, Germany, Austria, France and Finland are opposing the text negotiated by the Swedish EU presidency and the European Commission allowing American authorities access to information from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) - the interbank transfer service.

Read the article here: http://euobserver.com/9/28984/?rk=1

Google unveils privacy tools

The FT reports that Google has unveiling tools that will allow users to see what information the internet company is keeping on them, to aleviate the concerns of privacy campaigners.

Users who have signed up for any of Google’s consumer services, such as Gmail, Blogger, Picasa, and YouTube, will be able to see a “dashboard” listing the personal details that are stored about them. Users will be able to edit and delete the information.

The dashboard is similar to the tools Google introduced earlier this year to allow people to see the data that it was collecting about them in order to serve them targeted advertising.
Privacy campaigners welcomed the privacy tools as a step forward. “If the rest of the industry took this line, we would start to solve some of the problems with privacy,” said Simon Davies of Privacy International, the pressure group.

Read the article here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e5116b30-c9f5-11de-a5b5-00144feabdc0.html