Study Says Data Breaches On The Rise
from the if-it-hasn't-happened-to-you,-it-will dept
It's hardly surprising to hear that a new study claims that data breaches are on the rise, with the number of incidents picking up steam in 2008. Sadly, news of "the biggest ever data leak" seems to have become a regular occurrence, and is seen just as part of the normal course of business these days. Part of the problem is that the penalties companies pay for the leaks don't ever amount to much, what with toothless punishment from regulatory bodies and relatively small fines. Most companies just offer some free credit-report monitoring to those affected, maybe have a "special" sale, and move on. While other studies say the cost of breaches is rising, it's still low enough that, apparently, it's an acceptable cost of business, and makes the cost of better prevention unappealing. Still, this isn't wholly a technical problem: human error remains an enormous threat, with "insider negligence" blamed in one study for 88 percent of data breaches.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: data breaches
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Corporate Indifference
It's not acceptable to me, because ultimately the consumer is the one paying for their negligence.
They have no reason to care.
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Definitely not acceptable to me...
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Attitude is Everything
However, I can attest that the biggest threat to data security is not a not so thoroughly parsed parameter or a port in a fire wall that is left open, it is, as stated, insider negligence. Plain corruption may account for some problems but the bulk of the issues are crappy passwords (ironically my experience is that the more access a user has due to seniority and position the worse the password choice), leaving computers unattended, not wiping discarded hard drives, and not shredding papers that contain sensitive data.
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Imprisonment and confiscation for Cxx-level officers
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