They can't steal data that you don't have

SAS Dream Team Video: Strategies for getting senior executives to agree Advances in SSL and Certificate Management Virtualization: Simplify. Automate. Lower Costs. Eliminate Tape Restores with TimeData CDP Protecting Sharepoint with Double-Take for Windows 5.0 LIVEWIRE™: Full-Server Protecting and Recovery in Real-Time Six Questions To Ask About Information And Competition Virtual Reality SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Sign up to receive Legislation/Regulation Resource Alerts

April 6, 2005 (Computerworld) -- Data theft has become big news in recent weeks. Between data lost or stolen from Bank of America, ChoicePoint and a unit of Reed Elsevier, the public (and more importantly, Congress) is up in arms about the protection of personal and financial data that can be the subject of massive identity thefts.
Data loss is, of course, nothing new. In our work, we are frequently called upon to investigate these incidents and to find out what happened and who was involved.
Any competent information security professional will tell you that there is no such thing as 100% incident prevention. Incidents happen and will continue to happen. But there are things an organization can do to mitigate the risks of certain types of incidents, as well as the damages if an incident should occur. Failure to examine and mitigate these risks will increasingly expose companies to bad publicity, increased regulation and perhaps costly litigation.
When you look at a lot of incidents, as we do, you can start to draw some conclusions that go beyond the specifics of a particular situation -- whether the loss involved theft of a backup tape or unauthorized intrusion into a system or whether the perpetrators had inside help in carrying out their plans.
We have observed that some of the sensitive data that gets stolen fits into one of several categories:

• Data that was never needed


• Data that was needed but should never have been stored


• Data that was originally needed but was kept far beyond its useful life


• Data that should never have been stored in an unencrypted form

When we point out these issues to the victims, it seems that they never thought about these problems. We want to take a few minutes to explore them with you.
Data that was never needed
When you look through the data that you record on customers, transactions, employees and processes, when is the last time you checked each and every data field to determine why you needed it?
If you collect information that you don't actually need, not only are you spending money needlessly, but you're also opening yourself up to the risk that the unneeded data might be stolen or misused. You should look for a specific reason for collecting everything you ask for. If you can't define a valid business need or some legal or regulatory requirement for the data, why are you collecting it?
Sometimes we're told that the current system mirrors an earlier system that collected the same information, and no one realized that some of the information was no longer of any real use. Sometimes we're told that when the system was developed, the

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"I had a chuckle when I read Gregg Keizer's article "..." Read more... Read more Security posts or See all Blogs

'Experimental' security fix is malware, Microsoft says Tough economic climate can heighten insider threat Top security suites fail exploit tests More top stories...

16 e-mail and instant messaging boosters Microsoft readies first attack forecast NASA follows Mars successes with plans for $2B super rover

Q&A: E-voting security results 'awful,' says Ohio secretary of state How bad? 'I thought I was going to throw up,' Jennifer Brunner recalls. IT's biggest project failures -- and what we can learn from them Think your project's off track and over budget? Learn a lesson or two from these infamous project flameouts. Sprint's 4G Xohm WiMax: How fast is it? In our hands-on testing, the new Xohm WiMax network from Sprint was fast and smooth -- but for now, you have to be in Baltimore to get it. Accused Palin hacker has a history of intrusion College student David Kernell allegedly broke into a middle school server eight years ago, according to a former teacher. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone The Security Zone See your link here

Computerworld Executive Briefing: The Compliance Era Get this briefing free (a $195 value), for a limited time, courtesy of VeriSign. The new Computerworld report, The Compliance Era, explains why regulatory compliance has zoomed to the top of the IT agenda and shows how real-world IT executives are dealing with the storage, security and privacy challenges. Get this briefing free (a $195 value), for a limited time, courtesy of VeriSign. Download this executive briefing  From Laggard to Leader: Transforming the Data Center From Laggard to Leader: Transforming the Data Center Register for this complimentary webcast today! Go to the webcast  Using a High-Performance Network Backbone to Meet the Requirements of the Modern Government Data Center Download this white paper today! (Source: Juniper) This informative white paper offers insights into the latest trends, challenges, best practices and leading technologies that drive today's public agency data center network. It also reviews steps for implementing a framework that can mitigate risk and support the modern consolidated data center - efficiently and cost effectively. Download this white paper  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. LIVEWIRE™: Full-Server Protecting and Recovery in Real-Time Eliminate Tape Restores with TimeData CDP Protecting Sharepoint with Double-Take for Windows 5.0 View more whitepapers

• 'Experimental' security fix is malware, Microsoft says
• 16 e-mail and instant messaging boosters
• Tough economic climate can heighten insider threat
• More top stories 

Since You Asked A weekly storage column from storage analyst, Steve Duplessie of the Enterprise Strategy Group Click here to read the latest column by Steve Duplessie

Eliminate SPAM, Gain Productivity Learn all about the dangers and the costs of spam in all its forms – from stock-touting to spreadsheet. Also, understand the drawbacks of traditional hardware- and software-based defenses – and the unique benefits of MessageLabs multi-layered, managed Anti-Spam solution; as illustrated by a real-world case study where MessageLabs stopped spam cold. Download this white paper now!  See more Whitepapers

The Spy Files For Congress to do anything that helps protect consumers and the critical Internet infrastructure as a whole, it must pass laws that require proactive processes to protect computers, not that tell people how to deal with the resulting mess, says Ira Winkler. Click here to read the latest column by Ira Winkler