Astonishment over data security

Data leakage is increasingly a problem. People have to realise that securing this sort of information is not just about technology and software but it requires education of staff.

Security experts have expressed astonishment that the missing child benefit data discs which could leave 25 million people at risk of ID fraud were not encrypted before being copied on to CDs and put in the post.

They said the password protection system could be broken by hackers “within minutes” with software downloadable from the internet.

Tony Harbon, Managing Director of network security firm Clearview Systems, said public sector organisations were coming to realise that having a policy on how information should be used was not enough.

They must also train staff on how to follow the guidelines, he said.
Read the whole story here

How to steal a billion?

According to a report by Korea Times, two top execs from a Korean company stole key data and trade secrets worth of more than 1.8bn (!). The confidential data was stolen using those common USB drives you all know where they transfered more than 900 documents while working at the office.

The key data include blue prints to building electric power generation and desalination plants, which are Doosan’s forte especially on overseas markets. It is the world’s biggest developer of desalination plants with a global market share of about 46 percent.

The company expressed concern saying that the value of the technological know-how leaked by the two to STX could be at least 1.7 trillion won. “But considering the years of work we’ve put into developing those technologies, it could be worth a lot more,” said a Doosan official.

Read about this also on DarkReading’s report on the case. And protect your data more carefully from now on, it could happen to you too.

Salesforce.com customer list stolen

According to an article by Techworld Salesforce.com’s customers were targets of malicious hackers and scammers, after an employee was tricked into handing a corporate password to a phisher. Washington Post unveils that Suntrust Banks was one of the victims of this scam.

The whole story here: http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsid=10571