Lotus Notes: A History

This week in InfoSec (11:06)

With content liberated from the “today in infosec” twitter account and further afield

6th July 1995: Simple as 1-2-3: IBM Buys Lotus

IBM completes a $3.5 billion buyout of Lotus Development, the producer of the once-dominant Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software and the then-popular Lotus Notes groupware. IBM had hoped to leverage Lotus 1-2-3 to challenge the increasingly demanded Microsoft Excel software, but alas, there was little slowing down the Microsoft juggernaut during the 1990’s. Lotus 1-2-3 steadily lost market share, and IBM finally announced the end of support for the software in 2013.  

Lotus Notes groupware faired little better than 1-2-3, succumbing to Microsoft Exchange as the dominant groupware platform among large companies, but it remained entrenched among certain corporations for many years under the name IBM notes. In 2018 IBM sold Notes along with other software products to HCL Software for $1.8 Billion. HCL still develops and supports Notes to this day with a focus on security and lower cost as a way to compete with Microsoft Exchange.

1st July 2003: California's data breach notification law went into effect. It was the first US state to require disclosure of breaches of personal info.

California SB 1386 - Personal Information: Privacy

https://twitter.com/todayininfosec/status/1410750152671825925

Rant of the Week (20:12)

Nickelodeon investigates breach after leak of 'decades old’ data

At the end of June, a rumour emerged about a major leak from Nickelodeon's animation department. Proof of the alleged data leak started circulating on social media, showing an extensive collection of reportedly 500GB in documents and media files.

Nickelodeon has confirmed that the data leaked from an alleged breach of the company is legitimate but some of it appears to be decades old.

The data breach supposedly occurred in January this year and allegedly ended with Nickelodeon blocking the unauthorised access two months later. However, there is no reliable evidence about this..

According to some sources, all the files were leaked on a private Discord server, and many of them are being reposted elsewhere.

Billy Big Balls of the Week (28:38)

Study shows 25% of kids apps violate COPPA.

The researchers at Comparitech analyzed the top four hundred children’s apps offered in Apple’s App Store and found that one in four potentially violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 

Industry News (37:48)

Croydon Council Hit With Enforcement Notice For FOI Fail

Report Reveals Companies Unprepared For Darknet Data Leaks

Security Experts Raise Major Concerns With Online Safety Bill

European Commission to Tweak GDPR For Cross-Border Cases

UK Citizens Wary of NHS AI Use, Citing Privacy Concerns

Nagoya Port Faces Disruption After Ransomware Attack

Suspicious Email Reports Up a Third as NCSC Hails Active Defense

Police Arrest Suspected OPERA1ER Cybercrime Kin

Human Error the Leading Cause of Cloud Data Breaches

Tweet of the Week (48:03)

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1676791388145430528

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