Computer security is one of the biggest concerns for all companies nowadays. Company data is sensitive and organizations will do everything to keep it secure. A recent survey revealed that there is a huge demand for computer security experts that is not being filled because there aren’t enough professionals who can fill these slots. Computer security experts can demand top dollar because it is such a highly sought after job. [Read more…]
Disks???? What Disks?????
In the news, the British Prime Minister Brown has expressed concern regarding the recent security breach that left about half of the British population’s addresses and banking information out in the open, well somewhere out there. The said information was lost while in-transit through the British Post system contained within two computer data disks. This headline dated November 21’st of this year highlights the need for greater security with regards to the handling and safekeeping of vital personal information.
The event happened when a Junior official of the British Government’s Finance Department downloaded the information off a government website for use on another agency. It was then sent through courier service to that agency which was not named but when the disks didn’t arrive after a few days alarm bells started to ring and the police was brought into the investigation to help with the case. The problem was so great that the British Prime Minister apologized to the British public when speaking in Parliament much to the disgust of the MP’s and the public in general.
This event sparks new urgency in the way we handle and treat information even those categorized as personal. The information that was lost had information that was needed for the processing of millions of child and senior benefits support processing which is expected to result in outrage and disgust among many of the affected individuals.
Government’s from around the world spend millions of dollars in safeguarding information of all sorts and questions do arise from such cases such as why a junior officer had access and was even allowed to copy the said information out of a government server down to computer disks.
Keeping Information within Server Walls
Information gathered by a company will always be important and they should not be shared, disclosed or disregarded in any way, since they are the life stream that a company or organization thrives on. Normally, information would be stored in databases and only authorized personnel would have access to them for reference and study on current and probable studies for overall organizational performance.
The security of information is usually left to the jurisdiction of the database administrator and information technology section of companies. While some would consider this department as all computers and no importance, the position they actually hold is important and should be given notice.
Many would consider IT people as expendable, but the truth of the matter is, they bring the secret and the backbone of a company’s information gathering background, and should breaches be experienced, they would be the first ones to know how to do it.
[tags]information security, database administration, servers, network administration[/tags]