iPod Named As Security Risk
02.08.07 - 09:41am
The RSA Conference, where business security is the main topic, is currently being held in San Francisco. While Bill Gates spoke on the new security features in Vista, it has not been the hackers breaking into computers, but rather the travel of information from person to person, that has been the most talked about issue.
Sensitive documents are sometimes left by the copy machine, confidential information is sent in e-mails unsecured over the web, high-security papers are left unshredded and often information is downloaded onto laptops, iPods, CD-roms, and USB memory cards, for further late night work at home. Sometimes when this happens sensitive materials will be lost on the subway, slip out of a purse or be accidentally left on a park bench.
Joseph Ansanelli, Vontu Chairman and CEO said “We live in a world that’s completely wide-open, and it’s really, really easy for people either to transmit information, tons of information over email, or even take millions of records on their iPod and walk out the front door.”
Thirty-eight percent of workers surveyed, by McAfee (a security software maker), admit they transfer data to portable devices. Twenty-two percent then lend these portable devices, such as the iPod or laptop, to colleagues, even when they have sensitive data on them. Sometimes these breeches can lead to disasters, such as identity theft, which currently plagues one in three Americans.
None of this is intentional and most often the information is simply lost accidentally. Nevertheless credit card information, social security numbers, and the like is getting into the hands of more and more criminals, as the list of companies with breaches is expanding.
“Data loss has been heralded as one of the most pressing issues facing organizations in 2007, and with almost all corporate information now existing in electronic form, it’s not hard to see how data loss at the hands of employees has emerged as a serious threat,” said Solanki, senior director of worldwide product marketing at McAffee.
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