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Businesses Not Fully Appreciating Lessons from 2011 Data Breaches

secExtra — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:53:11 +0000

A new study of UK businesses conducted by SafeNet, Inc. reveals a mixed picture of how effectively UK businesses are protecting critical data and applications. While data breaches perpetuated during 2011 clearly demonstrated the need for more comprehensive encryption of business and customer data, SafeNet’s survey of over 170 IT managers with security responsibilities in UK businesses revealed that valuable and sensitive data held inside the perimeter walls of many systems are not necessarily being secured by effective and comprehensive encryption strategies. SafeNet believes its research provides unique insight into how encryption is currently being implemented within the information technology infrastructure of many UK businesses. When asked how they are currently using encryption, the leading answer of those IT managers polled was for protecting endpoints (82.2%), suggesting the threats from lost or stolen devices with unencrypted data are better understood. However, SafeNet’s survey also found that the majority of respondents are not utilizing encryption technology beyond IT systems’ endpoints to encrypt the actual data and information held inside the perimeter walls, suggesting that many IT managers may not fully appreciate the importance of protecting core data itself with encryption protocols. For example, only 43.7% of the UK businesses polled are [...]

Transport Security Expo brings fresh perspective to industry issues in 2012

secExtra — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:10:20 +0000

Transport Security Expo, the preeminent event for security professionals working within the transportation arena, will mark its 10th anniversary with an entirely fresh examination of the challenges the industry sector continues to face, within a much expanded programme of events. Four major conferences will focus upon security in the aviation, maritime, supply chain and mass transit arenas and deliver both the contextual background as well as a forum for general debate. Seven technology led workshop seminars will provide detailed knowledge of present day capability and an overview of future development. A global brand leader led hardware and software exhibition will support this world-class gathering. “This is a unique event specifically geared to meeting the needs of industry professionals from across the globe. We have devised the content following extensive consultation with our exhibitors, delegates and visitors. We are therefore delighted to deliver an event reflecting current issues impacting the industry as a whole,” comments Chief Executive, Peter Jones. Principal new features this year include: • Open forum debates in respect to key issues affecting the aviation and mass transit arenas. • Workshop seminars expanded to encompass new learning opportunities across the transport security domain space. • An exclusive exhibitor opportunity [...]

One in six organisations have fired an employee due to social media posts

secExtra — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:44:26 +0000

SpamTitan Technologies, the makers of email and web security software have today announced the results of their survey on corporate social media usage. The results show that 87% of companies would consider firing an employee if they posted something confidential about the company on a social media site, while not surprisingly, only 16% of companies think it is ok to use social media for personal use at work. These results mirror a recent study from Osterman Research which outlines real world corporate behaviour, the research found that one in six companies have dismissed an employee due to something they posted on various social media outlets. High profile examples of people who lost their jobs because of something they posted online include Pizza chain Domino employees who uploaded videos of them playing around with customers’ food on YouTube[1] and a Bishop who was suspended for negative comments about the British royal wedding[2]. Social media use is on the rise, with 145 million active Twitter users globally and 345 million tweets a day[3], and Facebook has 845 million Facebook users worldwide[4]. Social media use on corporate networks is also up significantly: Osterman Research found that 36% of corporate employees are using Facebook [...]

EU cookie law: only 23% of web users will opt into cookies

secExtra — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:36:35 +0000

Less than a quarter of web users will happily opt in to cookies following the introduction of the EU ePrivacy Directive next month, according to a new survey by Econsultancy. A survey of 1,097 web users found that 17% of people would definitely not accept cookies if prompted when arriving at a website. 60% said that they might accept them, depending on what they were used for. Only 23% will provide immediate consent. The EU ePrivacy Directive will force UK companies to amend their websites, to provide better guidance to visitors about how cookies are used. Companies that do not comply can be fined up to £500,000. Cookies have many different uses. For example, they can save the contents of a shopping cart (60% said this was ok), or track user experience via web analytics (only 35% were happy to accept these cookies). 21% of web users would authorise cookies that were used to improve the targeting of ads. A bigger survey of 1,593 respondents found that nearly a third of web users don’t know what a cookie is, nor why websites use them. There is a lot of confusion and concern over the new directive among UK businesses. Complying [...]

Survey of CIOs reveals Olympic disruption concerns

secExtra — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:41:48 +0000

- Almost ten percent believe Olympic chaos is guaranteed - Information storage ranks as CIO’s biggest headache UK CIOs are concerned that the upcoming Olympic Games will affect their business, according to a survey conducted by ControlCircle, a leading UK managed services provider. A recent survey of 100 CIOs/COOs/IT heads identified that 77% respondents are concerned or slightly concerned that the Games will affect their ability to conduct business as usual. In addition, nearly one in ten of those surveyed said they predict that the Games will inflict likely chaos on their organisation. “Organisations are likely to have a major issue getting staff to and from data centres in Greater London,” said Carmen Carey, CEO of ControlCircle. “Given our customer base and the position of our data centres we’ve spoken at length to a number of officials to establish levels of support required. Organisations need to ensure they too are in conversation with their service provider to guarantee they have the necessary capacity and logistical arrangements in place, as business won’t stop, if anything it will increase.” In the same survey respondents listed information storage (30%) and security (25%) as their biggest technology concerns for 2012. “This tallies with what [...]

European businesses complacent with sensitive information

secExtra — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:49:09 +0000

Data breaches will continue to expose European businesses to unnecessary risk and damage business reputations unless action is taken now to improve the management and protection of sensitive business information, reveals a new report by Iron Mountain and PwC. The study highlights an urgent need for a change in employee behaviour and a cultural shift among senior executives if organisations are to overcome the complacency, negligence and lack of shared responsibility uncovered by the study. The report, launched today at Iron Mountain’s first European Information Risk Summit, reveals that only around half of mid-sized businesses consider the loss of sensitive information as one of their top three business risks. Less than a quarter (24%) of the companies surveyed were aware as to whether or not they had experienced a data breach in the last three years. A mere 1% of respondents consider information risk to be the responsibility of every employee, while nearly two thirds (60%) conceded that they do not know whether their employees have the right tools to protect information. Marc Duale, President of International at Iron Mountain, said the report was a wake-up call for European businesses: “It is time for businesses to move from a culture [...]

The race is on to solve potential remote working Olympic nightmare

secExtra — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:47:02 +0000

The disruption that the Olympic Games could cause to London’s transport infrastructure, and the resulting effect on businesses and organisations has been well documented and should not be underestimated. We have already seen advice from the Games organisers suggesting that employees should be allowed to work at home during the event. As a result both public and some private sector organisations have started to implement plans and hold practice runs for such an eventuality. However, with so many employees working from home for the first time there is a lot more for organisations to take into consideration than at first glance. As the pressure on public transport and road networks reaches its zenith, it is extremely likely that we will see a dramatic increase in the number of employees who will be working from home, in order to avoid the disruption, particularly in the build up to popular events. However, with such a sudden pressure on organisations’ IT networks the chances of a systems crash increases dramatically. Patrick Oliver Graf Sales Director at NCP Engineering believes that businesses must be savvier about how they can prepare for this event: “With so many employees potentially working from home during the Olympic [...]

Information security top of the business training agenda

secExtra — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:25:37 +0000

Information security training is topping the business agenda across multiple departments according to a list of the 2011 Top 100 course take-ups published by e-learning giant SkillSoft. The ‘An introduction to Information security’ course was second only to the ‘Fundamentals of Networking’ in the breakdown of the 100 most popular courses in the IT field, which points to a significant shift in the value businesses are placing on the security of their corporate data. IT is not the only department to place a strong emphasis on information security – the Environment, Safety and Health sector also saw a big pick up in this area. SkillSoft’s privacy and information course ranked within the top ten for this department – coming in at number seven. Kevin Young, head of SkillSoft EMEA, is pleased to see that businesses are now taking responsibility for the information they hold. He said: “Information is the lifeblood of any business, so it makes good sense to protect it and ensure that the skills are available to ensure its ongoing integrity. In today’s rapidly evolving business climate the volume of data and information is growing by the day, so investing in training is a positive step forward. “When [...]

EU cookie law is bad for the web says 82% of digital marketers

secExtra — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:59:09 +0000

82% of digital marketers think the EU cookie law is ‘bad’ for the web according a recent poll undertaken by Econsultancy, publisher of digital marketing and e-commerce best practice and insight. Econsultancy asked more than 700 marketers for their opinions on the EU e-Privacy Directive, and to find out what preparations have been made for the May 26 deadline for compliance. The Directive makes it compulsory for web users to consent for a website to use or store cookies. Just 18% of respondents think the directive is a positive development for the web. One respondent said: “While I’m all for protecting privacy, the bit of this directive that applies to cookies has been ill thought out and even more badly applied, by someone who doesn’t understand the technology. Rather than try and analyse what cookies are actually intrusive, they’ve just ‘banned’ the lot! The lack of advice or guidance from the EU or Government has made things worse”. Another respondent wrote: “There’s total confusion on how to apply it and what it should be applied. There are a few nice implementations, nothing which everyone agrees on which means a disjointed user experience from site to site”. 57% of respondents have [...]

Wholesale Applications Community And Global Operators To Drive HTML5 Adoption Through 2012 Hackathon Series

secExtra — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:47:33 +0000

The Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), announced today a series of HTML5-focused hackathons to occur across the world in 2012. Hosted by global operators and designed for wireless applications developers to learn and share knowledge about creating HTML5-based mobile apps and using the new WAC Billing API, the hackathons will teach new skill sets and educate developers about the efficiency of writing once for many devices. Beginning in America during May, the first hackathon in the series will be hosted by AT&T and Facebook, taking place at AT&T’s Palo Alto, Calif. facility for innovation, the AT&T Foundry. AT&T will offer a $20,000 prize for the best application developed during the day-long event and Facebook will offer an additional prize for the best social application built that day. Both winning apps will be featured on AT&T’s new HTML5 AppCenter. AT&T and Facebook developer support teams will be on site to provide expert guidance in developing applications in HTML5. Developers interested in the hackathon series can learn more and register by visiting the AT&T Developer Program website http://developer.att.com/. The May hackathon at the AT&T Foundry will be quickly followed by similar events across Europe and Asia; Orange will hold an event in Paris [...]