McNair Eye Center on Industrial Park Road, Arkansas, has had a data breach that could affect 9,000 patients. A server, which I'll assume was not protected with data encryption software like AlertBoot, was stolen.
The server was stolen from McNair Eye Center (as opposed to a break-in at a data center). The burglars entered the building by pulling a window air conditioning unit. They also had the sense to turn security cameras towards walls. Me thinks that these people knew the lay of the land beforehand. Wouldn't be surprised if this was an inside job. According to the article by thesuntimes.com, only the server was taken, which was "very heavy." No details on the actual weight.
The server was stolen from McNair Eye Center (as opposed to a break-in at a data center). The burglars entered the building by pulling a window air conditioning unit. They also had the sense to turn security cameras towards walls. Me thinks that these people knew the lay of the land beforehand. Wouldn't be surprised if this was an inside job.
According to the article by thesuntimes.com, only the server was taken, which was "very heavy." No details on the actual weight.
I've often found that many people don't really think of encryption software as a necessary precaution for their servers, whereas they might ponder on it a bit if we were talking about laptops. Generally, there's two reasons for the lack of enthusiasm on encrypting servers. First reason: it slows down the server. This is true but must be put into context: most people won't really notice the difference. If you process as much data as Google, yes, you'll definitely feel the lag. But if you happen to be a smaller business, like our clinic above, chances are "slowing down the server" doesn't quite mean "slow performance," just like a car going down the highway at 120 mph is slower than one going at 150 mph but by no means slow. Second reason: servers are heavy. Yes, they are. They're heavy...er than a laptop, but not so heavy that a guy would have a problem stealing it. I mean, let's face it, a guy put the server there so chances are another guy can take it away. What kind of security is that? (Pointing out that there are other forms of security, such as locked doors and whatnot, do not count. The same security would be present if the server in question was a laptop. But, people would cry foul for not having the information encrypted if it actually was a laptop.) Besides, even if a server is super heavy (say, the size of a mainframe) so that it cannot be stolen, where is the guarantee that the data on that server cannot be stolen? A guy could connect an external disk and copy off data from that server with the instruction of a few commands.
I've often found that many people don't really think of encryption software as a necessary precaution for their servers, whereas they might ponder on it a bit if we were talking about laptops. Generally, there's two reasons for the lack of enthusiasm on encrypting servers.
First reason: it slows down the server. This is true but must be put into context: most people won't really notice the difference.
If you process as much data as Google, yes, you'll definitely feel the lag. But if you happen to be a smaller business, like our clinic above, chances are "slowing down the server" doesn't quite mean "slow performance," just like a car going down the highway at 120 mph is slower than one going at 150 mph but by no means slow.
Second reason: servers are heavy. Yes, they are. They're heavy...er than a laptop, but not so heavy that a guy would have a problem stealing it. I mean, let's face it, a guy put the server there so chances are another guy can take it away. What kind of security is that?
(Pointing out that there are other forms of security, such as locked doors and whatnot, do not count. The same security would be present if the server in question was a laptop. But, people would cry foul for not having the information encrypted if it actually was a laptop.)
Besides, even if a server is super heavy (say, the size of a mainframe) so that it cannot be stolen, where is the guarantee that the data on that server cannot be stolen? A guy could connect an external disk and copy off data from that server with the instruction of a few commands.
Related Articles and Sites:http://www.thesuntimes.com/news/x324651657/Server-theft-could-affect-9-000-people