These days, when one talks about data security, several things spring to mind: hard disk encryption, antivirus software, firewalls, etc. However, remember that information resides in other forms than in digital format. After all, we're using more paper than ever, and have increasingly done so for the past ten years. All those dead trees must contain some type of data.
According to a story at newsday.com, an ex-employee broke into the offices of Obsidian Financial Group, a financial services company in Woodbury, New York. He and an accomplice went through drawers and photocopied personal information such as SSNs, names, and bank reference numbers. He had worked at Obsidian a total of six days, and had stopped working for them for four days prior to the break in (which took the form of strolling through the front door afterhours using a door key code). There are no reports on how many names they made off with. They didn't go too far, though. The ex-employee has already been arrested, and police are looking for the accomplice.
According to a story at newsday.com, an ex-employee broke into the offices of Obsidian Financial Group, a financial services company in Woodbury, New York.
He and an accomplice went through drawers and photocopied personal information such as SSNs, names, and bank reference numbers. He had worked at Obsidian a total of six days, and had stopped working for them for four days prior to the break in (which took the form of strolling through the front door afterhours using a door key code).
There are no reports on how many names they made off with. They didn't go too far, though. The ex-employee has already been arrested, and police are looking for the accomplice.
Information is not a "thing." It is a representation of something--an idea, a state of being, whatever. And, that's why information is so hard to protect, unlike, say, a bar of gold. You know why they make those bars of gold stored at government depositories so big? Because at that size and weight, even Rambo would have trouble filching just one bar. Maybe he'll make it 100 yards before the thing becomes slippery with sweat and he goes crazy. That's not the case with information, such as a person's SSN. Even if you engrave it into the gold bar mentioned above, one could, Memorize the number Jot it down on a piece of paper Take a picture of it No need to filch anything. Anyway, what the above observation means for companies is, secure your data. Yes, this means, use encryption software on your laptops; do update your security patches; ensure your antivirus is up to date. But, also, remember to keep important documents locked. Don't forget to rescind permissions granted to former employees (keys, passwords, etc.). Keep unnecessary personnel out (to protect against "the seeing something and memorizing" thing).
Information is not a "thing." It is a representation of something--an idea, a state of being, whatever. And, that's why information is so hard to protect, unlike, say, a bar of gold.
You know why they make those bars of gold stored at government depositories so big? Because at that size and weight, even Rambo would have trouble filching just one bar. Maybe he'll make it 100 yards before the thing becomes slippery with sweat and he goes crazy.
That's not the case with information, such as a person's SSN. Even if you engrave it into the gold bar mentioned above, one could,
No need to filch anything.
Anyway, what the above observation means for companies is, secure your data. Yes, this means, use encryption software on your laptops; do update your security patches; ensure your antivirus is up to date. But, also, remember to keep important documents locked. Don't forget to rescind permissions granted to former employees (keys, passwords, etc.). Keep unnecessary personnel out (to protect against "the seeing something and memorizing" thing).
Related Articles and Sites:http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/cops-social-security-numbers-stolen-from-woodbury-company-1.1577475http://www.longislandpress.com/2009/11/10/nyc-man-charged-with-woodbury-burglary/