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December Recap: A Time to Celebrate

By Morgan Grevey| 2015-01-08T09:01:10-06:00 January 7th, 2015|Uncategorized|

Christmas Sweater The end of 2014 called for a bit of holiday cheer at CSID – a time to celebrate the number of people we served and recognize the hard work our team gives day in and day out. We got into the holiday spirit while keeping the CSID train on track in December. Take a look at all the activities we did last month:

One more for SXSWi!
Earlier in the year, CSID had two panels accepted for next year’s South By Southwest Interactive conference – Hacker to InfoSec Pro: New Rock Star Generation and Follow the Money: Cyber Crime and the Black Market – we received word that our third session was accepted as well! In March, you’ll be able to catch CSID’s Chief Innovation Officer Adam Tyler’s Future15 session, Wi-Fi Privacy: When Sniffing becomes Snooping. Stay tuned for more details on when and where all of our SXSWi panels will be held. The conference takes place March 13 through 17 in Austin, Texas.

Joe Ross posts more on Huffington Post and Security Today
December proved to be a month of data breaches. CSID’s president Joe Ross put together a December Breach Round Up and posted it on his monthly Huffington Post column. Following our webinar on medical identity theft, Joe shared his two cents on how data breaches are affecting the healthcare industry in Security Today Magazine. Check out his latest article: The Healthcare Industry: 2014’s Biggest Data Breach Victim.

Reindeer Games
The CSID crew is always ready to celebrate the holidays. This year, each department got together to create snow globes and we held our very popular annual ugly Christmas sweater contest. Larry walked away with first place for the second year in a row! You can see pictures of his ugly Christmas sweater – as well as the runners-up – on Facebook.

Families in Need
In addition to volunteering at Austin Operation Blue Santa, CSID adopted two local families in need this holiday season. CSID team members pitched in by donating toys, clothing, bedding and grocery store gift cards. A huge thanks to our team members who wrapped and delivered gifts!

Looking Ahead to 2015
We know 2015 is going to be a memorable year, so let’s kick off January by making some smart security resolutions. We recommend signing up for a password manager, turning on two-factor authentication where possible and signing up for an identity monitoring service. Let us know what your New Year’s security resolutions are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security new stories.

November Recap: Giving Thanks at CSID

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-12-02T17:40:53-06:00 December 2nd, 2014|Uncategorized|

November was a time to give thanks at CSID. We gathered our best secure shopping tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, prepped for SXSW 2015, attended The Texas Conference for Women and had a good, old-fashioned Thanksgiving feast at our office. Here’s a recap of what we were up to in November:

Prepping for SXSWi!
CSID had two panels accepted for next year’s South By Southwest Interactive conference. We are already prepping for our panels! Here’s a look at our accepted panels: Hacker to InfoSec Pro: New Rock Star Generation and Follow the Money: Cyber Crime and the Black Market. Stay tuned for more details on when and where our SXSWi panels will be held. The conference takes place March 13 through 17 in Austin, Texas.

Black Friday + Cyber Monday Tips
In light of last year’s retail breaches, we prepared a few key Cyber Monday shopping tips to help online buyers make smart, secure decisions. These tips can help keep you secure all the way through the holidays, so be sure to check them out.

Joe Ross shares more on Huffington Post and IAPP
After our recent medical identity theft webinar, Joe Ross shared additional insight on the topic in his latest articles. Check out his piece in The Huffington Post to find out how you can protect your personal medical identity. For the security professionals out there, be sure to check out Joe’s article on how you can best protect patient data on IAPP’s The Privacy Advisor.

Texas Conference for Women
Last year, a group of CSID team members attended The Texas Conference for Women, an event dedicated to sharing and inspiring women entrepreneurs and women in technology. The group found the conference to be extremely useful and inspiring in 2013, so CSID attended the conference again this year. To find out more about the conference, its speakers and topics, check out TXConferenceForWomen.Org.

Thanksgiving Feast at CSID
Prior to heading home for the holidays, we got together to give thanks with our work family. CSID had a Texas-style feast with la Barbecue and other Thanksgiving goodies at our Austin HQ.

Coming Up in December
We want to pause in December to reflect on 2014 and take a look forward at what’s to come in 2015. Stay tuned for security predictions to keep an eye on in the coming year!

How was your November? What are you looking forward to in December? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security news stories.

October Recap: Webinars, NCSAM and Costumes

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-11-05T10:13:46-06:00 November 5th, 2014|Uncategorized|

Despicable Me October was quite a busy month at CSID! We participated in a healthy mix of industry-related events – like National Cyber Security Awareness Month and our cyberSAFE webinar – and let loose at the end of the month with our annual Halloween costume contest. Take a look at what we were up to and what’s to come in November:

National Cyber Security Awareness Month
The National Cyber Security Alliance held its 11^thannual National Cyber Security Awareness Month campaign this October. We participated in the weekly #ChatSTC Twitter chats and even co-hosted one about cyber security for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Looking for a Cure for Medical Identity Theft Webinar
We hosted our quarterly cyberSAFE webinar about medical identity theft with experts Ann Patterson from the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance and Dr. Marie-Helen Maras, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. CSID surveyed healthcare facilities to better understand how they handle security practices. Missed the webinar? You can watch the webinar replay, and don’t forget to download our free whitepaper and check out our latest medical identity theft infographic.

Joe Ross shares more on Huffington Post
Joe Ross shared another new article in his column – “Payments 101: Consumer Tips for Safe Shopping.” Catch up on the column on the Huffington Post.

CSID’s Epic Halloween Costume Contest
We know you’ve been waiting all year to see what CSID employees and departments cooked up for our annual Halloween costume contest. Last year we saw Mad Men, Star Wars and Anchor Man costumes. This year, our marketing department took home the top prize with their Despicable Me costumes.

CSID Supports the University of Texas Center for Identity’s IDWise launch
We attended the University of Texas Center for Identity’s IDWise launch earlier this month. IDWise is a resource center for the public on identity theft, fraud and privacy. Congratulations to a great team at IDWise on a successful launch.

Coming Up in November
We’re looking forward to a season of giving back this November. Look out for some blog posts predicting 2015 security trends coming soon!

How was your October? What are you looking forward to in November? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security news stories.

September Recap: Cooling Down While Ramping Up

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-10-01T17:47:49-05:00 October 1st, 2014|Uncategorized|

Back to School September may mean cooler weather, changing seasons and goodbye to summer. But for us at CSID it also meant a ton of hot activities like curating a back-to-school guest blog series and ramping up for our upcoming webinar about medical identity theft. Here’s what we were up to last month:

Guest Blog Series: Back-To-School Tips
This August and September we curated a guest blog series from child identity theft, online safety advocates and other experts all about security and privacy for back-to-school time. As we mentioned last month, the posts were insightful, ranging from tips for parents to college students to businesses.

Joe Ross in the Huffington Post
Joe Ross shared a new article in his Huffington Post column – “WiFi Tracking: When Sniffing Becomes Snooping.” Be sure to catch up on his column for more industry related articles.

CSID’s Adam Tyler at (ISC)2
Our Chief Innovation Officer Adam Tyler spoke at the annual (ISC)2 conference this month. He discussed the “Mad World of Malware,” and covered malware from top to bottom, including an inside look at new malware strains to top tier case studies. Look out for a video recording of Adam in action, coming soon!

Joe Ross at ATC’s Big Data Conference
CSID president Joe Ross spoke at the Austin Technology Council’s Big Data Conference this month. He was among a number of fellow influential companies based in Central Texas, including our friends from the UT Center for ID.

Steering Wellness in the Workplace
Our Sr. Director of Human Resources, David Darrow, was on a steering committee for a wellness seminar this month, focusing on corporate wellness opportunities. He was even featured on the event website – take a look. Congrats and great job, David!

Ping Pong Tournament at CSID HQ
What better way to close out the summer than with a company-wide ping pong tournament! Congratulations to the winning team, Team 3. Check out all the photos on our Facebook page.

Sponsoring the Harvest Moon Festival
We love to get involved with the community, especially if there is music involved! This month we were a proud sponsor of LifeWorks Austin’s Harvest Moon Festival. We enjoyed some local tunes while raising money for LifeWorks’ Workforce Development Program. Take a look at some photos from the event!

Coming Up in October
October is a big month for us. We’re hosting our next edition of the cyberSAFE webinar series on October 21 at 12 PM CT. We’ll be discussing medical identity theft and health IT with experts from MIFA and John Jay College. Register and join us! We’re also co-hosting another #cyberSAFEchat about the same topic on October 20 at 1 PM CT, featuring co-hosts @UTCenterforID and @MedIDFraudAssoc. Look out for more info on that.

In addition, October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month! We’ll be taking part in conversations, events and will even be co-hosting an official #ChatSTC Twitter chat on October 23 with STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Save the date.

How was your September? What are you looking forward to in October? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security news stories.

July Recap: Swimming Through The Summer

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-08-06T14:51:33-05:00 August 6th, 2014|Uncategorized|

Back to School Can you believe how quickly this summer is flying by? We stayed busy this July and had some great highlights – like that time we collected school supplies for kids in need, or that time our CFO was named one of the best in Austin. Here’s what we were up to in July:

Back-To-School Donations
In July we partnered with LifeWorks Austin for their Back to School Donation Drive to help families get ready for the new school year. We had a blast collecting school supplies for kiddos in need. See some photos from the donation drive on our Facebook page.

Carl’s Epic Motorcycle Ride
As we mentioned last month, our own Carl Davies is riding around the country to raise money for LifeWorks Austin and Max’s Ride for ALS, while also attempting to break a Guinness World Record! We got an update on where he has been so far – and as of August, he’s made it home safely! Read up on his adventure and make a donation at www.maxals.org.

Joe Ross in the Huffington Post
Joe Ross shared two new articles in his Huffington Post column – “Where Small Business Security Sands Today – A 2014 Survey,” and “What’s Stopping Media from Posting PII? Not Much.” Catch up on the column for more industry related stories.

CSID’s Amanda Nevins is Austin’s Best CFO
At the end of the month we were honored to hear that our own Amanda Nevins has been named Austin Business Journal’s 2014 Best CFO in the “Medium Private Company” category. She was recognized for her technical vision and extensive professional experience that has helped CSID achieve several solid years of growth. Go Amanda! We’re so proud! You can read more about Amanda in her ABJ profile.

What are you looking forward to in August? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security news stories.

March Recap: SXSW Interactive and More

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-04-03T09:41:08-05:00 April 3rd, 2014|Uncategorized|

Phew! March has come to a close – and what a busy month it was. Let’s dive right in.

SXSW Interactive

We have another successful SXSW Interactive under our belts. This year we took part in everything from news interviews (President Joe Ross and CIO Adam Tyler both did TV interviews) to panel discussions (VP Bryan Hjelm and CIO Adam Tyler both spoke at SXSW) – and we even had some time to relax at our annual Protect Your Buzz happy hour. Catch our full SXSW recap, including key cyber security takeaways, in our blog post here. And be sure to tag yourself in any photos from our happy hour photo booth – find them all on Facebook.

Healthiest Employer in Central Texas

We were recently recognized as one of the Healthiest Employers of Central Texas by the Austin Business Journal. We placed 10^th in the “medium company” category and celebrated with a walk around Lady Bird Lake here in Austin. So proud of our team! Catch photos from the awards breakfast and our celebratory walk on our Facebook page.

Joe Ross and the Austin Chamber of Commerce

This month our president and co-founder Joe Ross spoke at the Austin Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council. Joe shared identity theft risks small businesses in Austin – and everywhere – should take into consideration, including POS malware, social media risks and the Internet of Things.

Joe Ross in the Huffington Post and Security Today

Joe Ross also shared an update on “The Mad State of Malware” in his Huffington Post column. Catch up on more of Joe’s columns on the Huffington Post, including “The Ongoing Battle Against Breaches” and “A Look Forward: 2014 and Identity Theft.”

What’s coming up in April

The first half of April is sure to be a busy one! On April 7^th we are hosting a Twitter chat about child identity theft and privacy – join us and follow #cyberSAFEchat at 1 PM CDT with co-hosts Kids Privacy and LookOut Social. Then, at 12 PM CDT on April 8^th we will screen a re-run of our child identity theft webinar featuring experts from Carnegie Mellon’s Cylab and uKnowKids. Reserve your spot now.

Finally, on April 9^th and 10^th we will be at UT Center for Identity’s ID360 conference, where Joe Ross and Bryan Hjelm will both be featured speakers. We’re looking forward to catching up with industry experts from around the country. Hope to see you there!

Let us know what you’re most looking forward to this month on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security new stories.

February Recap: A Fun, Fast February

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-03-06T09:30:22-06:00 March 6th, 2014|Uncategorized|

February flew by here at CSID. However, we accomplished a lot in this short month, keeping a healthy balance between work and working out. Read on to see what happened in February at CSID.

Security Awareness Days

There were a number of security awareness events this February. The first of the month was National Change Your Password Day. Did you know that 55 percent of Internet users reuse the same passwords on most, if not all sites! February 11 was Safer Internet Day. To commemorate this day, we shared some tips on our blog on how to protect yourself online (tip number one – have good password habits).

Fitness Challenge

To promote health and fitness within the company (and some healthy in-office competition), we held a company-wide fitness challenge. Employees were encouraged to form teams and exercise, exercise, exercise. Collectively CSID clocked over 98,000 hours of physical activity in the challenge’s six week time period. You can check out pictures from the fitness challenge including a shot of our winning group, In It To Thin It, on our Facebook page.

Bananarchy in the House

We spent most of February exercising so we wanted to treat ourselves at the end of the month. Bananarchy satiated our hunger by coming for a visit and serving up chocolate dipped bananas topped with a variety of tasty toppings. Make yourself hungry and check out our pictures on Facebook.

Joe Ross in the Huffington Post and Security Today

Our president and co-founder Joe Ross shared his top security predictions for the rest of the year in a great column published in Security Today. He also provided some advice for businesses in the Huffington Post in The Ongoing Battle Against Breaches.

What’s coming up in March

March is going to be a busy and fun month for us. We will kick off March with the always exciting and always exhausting, SXSW Interactive conference. We have three panels at this year’s conference so if you are going to be in town, come and check them out. We are also hosting our second annual Protect Your Buzz party for employees, friends and partners. It promises to be a good time. Also in March, we will be gearing up for one of our favorite security conferences – the UT Center for Identity’s ID360 conference. Joe Ross will be speaking on a panel and we hope to have other CSIDers participating as well.

Let us know what you’re most looking forward to this month on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security new stories.

January Recap: Full Steam Ahead for 2014

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-02-05T16:33:24-06:00 February 5th, 2014|Uncategorized|

CSID kicked off 2014 by participating in several industry and local community events. Take a look at what we were up to in January and don’t forget to see what’s coming up later this year!

Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week

With the alarming increase in the number of identity theft cases seen during tax season last year, the FTC hosted Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week, a weeklong campaign geared toward educating taxpayers on tax fraud. We participated in the #TaxIDTheft Twitter chat and posted some tips on how to avoid tax identity theft and what to do if you’re a victim.

LifeWorks Home Improvement Challenge

We partnered with one of our favorite charities, LifeWorks, for their Home Improvement Challenge. CSID team members put together pieces of furniture and helped set up a comfortable apartment for a single mom and her daughter. You can check out pictures of our team furnishing the apartment on Facebook.

Celebrating Data Privacy Day with CSID’s IAPP Privacy After Hours Event

We celebrated Data Privacy Day, an international effort hosted by StaySafeOnline.org to help educate people on the importance of protecting their privacy and controlling their digital footprint, on January 28^th. CSID participated in Data Privacy Day as a Data Privacy Day Champion. More than 200 organizations participated as a Champion this year, nearly 100 more than in 2013! In partnership with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), we coordinated the Privacy After Hours event, where privacy professionals had a chance to network and talk about data privacy issues.

Austin Startup Games 2014

We participated once again in the Austin Startup Games at Austin Music Hall. We had a blast raising money for charity (our charity was LifeWorks), dressing up in crazy mullet wigs and playing games with the other awesome startups in town. Check out the photos on Facebook.

Joe Ross in the Huffington Post and the IAPP Privacy Advisor

Our president and co-founder Joe Ross shared his top security predictions coming our way in 2014 in his column on the Huffington Post. He also published an article in the IAPP Privacy Advisor on how to change employees’ password habits.

What’s coming up in February

Thanks to your help, all of our SXSW panels were voted into the lineup this year! We are prepping in February for a great SXSW Interactive weekend in early March, full of parties and panels. Take a look at the panels we have lined up:

Let us know what you’re looking forward to this month on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security new stories.

December Recap: Giving, Celebrating and Prepping for a New Year

By Morgan Grevey| 2014-01-27T16:06:25-06:00 January 3rd, 2014|Uncategorized|

In the spirit of the holiday season, December was a time for giving back and getting ready for the upcoming year. Take a look at our activities this past month and see what’s ahead for CSID in 2014.

Spreading holiday cheer – in the office and local community

At the beginning of December, we partnered with Barton Hills Elementary School and LifeWorks to donate gifts to two local families in need during the holiday season. As the days inched closer to December 25, we celebrated CSID’s “Five Days of Holiday Cheer” in the office. From holiday bingo to an ugly Christmas sweater party to a cross-country gingerbread house contest (our San Diego and Boston offices participated as well!), we had fun spending quality time with fellow colleagues. See our full “Five Days of Holiday Cheer” schedule below and take a look at all of our holiday photos on Facebook.

CSID’s Five Days of Holiday Cheer Xmas Sweaters

Day 1 – Holiday Bingo

Day 2 – Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Day 3 – Gingerbread House Contest

Day 4 – Chili Cookoff

Day 5 – Christmas PJs and White Elephant Gift Exchange

Philanthropic giving

Earlier this year, we partnered with Oxford Commercial to help us move into our new Austin headquarters. As part of Oxford Commercial’s Giving Program, they donated $8,000 of the moving costs to four charities of CSID’s choice, including LifeWorks, the ALS Association, the American Cancer Society and the Capital Area Food Bank. Check out the full details of donation on our website and see what other philanthropic activities CSID has participated in this year.

More from Joe Ross in the Huffington Post

We were blown away at the record-breaking number of people making purchases on their mobile devices for Cyber Monday this year. CSID President Joe Ross explored the security implications of mobile ecommerce and provided tips for protecting your purchases and sales on Huffington Post.

Wrapping up 2013 and preparing for 2014

It’s safe to say that 2013 was a transformational year for security. Major enterprises were breached this year, despite being security compliant. More and more businesses began adopting “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policies. And hackers tended to destroy data, rather than steal it. We took a look at what other security experts and publications predicted for 2014’s security trends and came up with 8 Cyber Security Predictions for 2014. We look forward to sharing more trends, news recap stories and tips on protecting your business with you this upcoming year.

What we’re looking forward to in 2014

It’s early yet, but we think 2014 will be an exciting, innovative year for the industry and CSID. One thing in particular we are looking forward to is participating in two SXSWi panels in March, including “When Good Technology Goes Bad: Mobile Security” and “That Was The Old Me: Managing Online Reputation.” More details to follow on dates and times for those panels.

Thanks to all for an excellent 2013 and cheers to 2014. Any security New Year’s resolutions you’d like to share with us? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to keep up with our Tumblr for up-to-date security new stories.

Creative Giving Part III: LifeWorks

By Morgan Grevey| 2013-12-19T09:20:56-06:00 December 19th, 2013|Uncategorized|

Earlier this year we partnered with Oxford Commercial to help us move into our new Austin headquarters. As part of Oxford Commercial’s creative giving program, they donated a portion of our moving expenses to four charities of our choice. Today, we recognize one of those charities: LifeWorks. We are honored to welcome LifeWorks to share a little more about their great organization:

It all starts with acceptance.

At LifeWorks, we believe in the transformational power of acceptance. We are fiercely committed to empowering our clients to find their path to self-sufficiency and we are determined to have a positive, sustaining impact on our community that will last generations.

As an Austin non-profit focused on helping youth and families, we work every day with young men and women who’ve endured circumstances that are unimaginable: abuse, neglect, abandonment and violence. Many have endured years of moving from one foster care placement to another without ever knowing a single adult that they could depend on. Others have had to survive years of unstable or unsafe family situations. And far too many are forced into homelessness to escape intolerable circumstances for the “freedom” of life on the streets.

LifeWorks serves youth and families who want to change the direction of their lives, whether they are homeless, parenting or “aging out” of the foster care system. We offer 20 different results-focused programs – ranging from shelter, education and counseling to workforce development and affordable housing – all focused on helping clients find their path to self-sufficiency.

At LifeWorks we help our clients see themselves in new ways, and in the process, help them see their futures in new ways as well. We let them know that they possess the skills to address the challenges they face and the power within themselves to change the direction of their lives.

Empowering better futures requires proven, measurable results.

At LifeWorks we don’t shy away from data. We embrace it. It’s why we use a results-based accountability model to assess the impact and effectiveness of our services. For our organization to make an impact, all our passion, commitment and hard work must produce consistent, measurable and positive outcomes.

We serve over 10,000 individuals each year through 20 different counseling, education/workforce, youth development and youth housing/homelessness programs, providing the most comprehensive safety net of support in our community.

LifeWorks operates nine locations around the city of Austin, TX:

Three Youth & Family Resource Centers (South, East & North)
Street Outreach Drop–in Center for homeless youth
Emergency Shelter for runaway, abused, abandoned and foster care youth
Young Parents Program / Shelter
Transitional Living Program
Supportive Housing Program
Affordable Housing Apartment Complex

It all leads to stronger families & a healthier community.

Every young person who comes to LifeWorks is facing a fork in the road.

One road leads down an all-too-familiar path of neglect, anger, apathy and disengagement. It’s the path that results in many young people becoming a burden of the state, or worse, the criminal justice system. And it leads to a world that propagates another generation of hopelessness.

But there is another road. It’s not fast or easy or painless, but it is empowering, rewarding and ultimately, life affirming. It’s the path to self-sufficiency. And it leads to a world where success is expected, achievement is celebrated, and independence is realized to the extent that it becomes utterly unremarkable. This is a world where hope is passed on from generation to generation.

To learn more about LifeWorks, make a gift or get involved, please visit www.lifeworksaustin.org.

For more about CSID’s involvement in the community, take a look at our new philanthropy page on Facebook.

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December Recap: A Time to Celebrate

November Recap: Giving Thanks at CSID

October Recap: Webinars, NCSAM and Costumes

September Recap: Cooling Down While Ramping Up

July Recap: Swimming Through The Summer

March Recap: SXSW Interactive and More

February Recap: A Fun, Fast February

January Recap: Full Steam Ahead for 2014

December Recap: Giving, Celebrating and Prepping for a New Year

Creative Giving Part III: LifeWorks

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