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GCN Home > 12/11/06 issue

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Loose Data

By Joab Jackson and William Jackson, GCN Staff

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The past year saw a steady parade of security breaches exposing sensitive personal data to possible abuse. One of the biggest was the theft in May of a Veterans Affairs Department notebook PC containing records on more than 28 million individuals.

It is unclear whether the problem of loose data is getting worse or we’re just hearing more about it. Data breaches first became an issue in the wake of the 2003 California law requiring public notification of breaches. Since then, 28 states have passed similar laws. But it is undeniable that as data becomes more mobile it becomes more vulnerable to loss and misuse. Notebooks, personal digital assistants, cell phones and tiny USB drives are becoming increasingly powerful and connected.

The problem is too broad and the vulnerabilities too various for any single solution. Data encryption is emerging as a broad canopy for many problems. Last summer, Baltimore-based SafeNet Inc. offered government clients free downloads of its ProtectDrive encryption after the Office of Management and Budget ordered agencies to encrypt all data that seemed in potential danger of being lost or stolen.

Enforcing agencywide encryption policies and managing the technology on a large scale can be difficult. In the end, a broad range of physical security, identity management and access control tools is needed to ensure a reasonable level of security for sensitive data, regardless of where it resides.
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