Time for Proactive Data Protection
Posted by pramatr on November 30th, 2009
In July of this year an ex-employer at Goldman-Sachs was reported to have stolen code behind Goldman-Sachs propriety trading software. November of this year saw the largest breach of data in the UK when over a million customer records were alleged to have been stolen by a T-Mobile employee and sold on to rival firms.
All data has value and if someone pays the right price its not uncommon to find someone willing to breech company policy and turn a blind eye to any consequences if caught stealing.
Data Use in the Company ?
We entrust organisations with our personal data and in return we expect them to keep our data secure, private and to not share with others without our consent. The thought of an employee abusing the information we willingly give over is something we rarely ever consider. However few organisations themselves know how this data is handled inside. The good news is, technology exists that can help, that can assist in reducing data loss, keep prying eyes away and entrust only the right personal to access personal data.
Inside Data Protection
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technology has been around since 2006 and has is gaining speed with each passing year. DLP tech at a high-level discovers, monitors and protects sensitive data. Advances in this area have moved so far on that this statement probably doesn’t do the area any justice but suffice to say data stored, in use and even in transit can be managed, allowing identification of unexpected usage patterns; those accessing records more than they need to or at unusual times.
Outside Identity Protection
Identity and Access Management (IdM/ IAM) technology is another technology that has been around for several years and gained significant traction. Where DLP technology focuses primarily on data, its accessibility and authorisation IdM like Pramatr IdM is concerned with restricting access to data at the identity layer. Through managing access, authorisation, authentication across identity silos Pramatr IdM can help identify unusual access patterns, unexpected access times and even those trying to get access to unauthorised areas.
With data theft on the rise, and cases like these ever more tempting its time to take a proactive approach to data protection both inside and out.