News
 Where Has All the Data Gone?
-By Malte Pollmann, vice president of products
If company laptops, PDAs or other mobile devices
can’t be found, it doesn’t always mean they’ve been
stolen. You often lose track of them because there’s
no clear record of your IT assets. Encryption and
inventory management can help to safeguard against
the loss of confidential data.
When large companies and organizations run inventory
checks of their electronic devices, managers often
end up scratching their heads. How can it be, that
suddenly, only 90 company laptops can be located
instead of the original 100? Theft or absentminded
employees are just two of a number of possible
explanations. Over time, companies can lose track of
mobile devices in the everyday chaos of the
enterprise. If a device changes department,
location, or user – and this might happen several
times in the span of just a few months – it is often
subsequently listed as missing. The danger is that
confidential data on those devices can get into
unauthorized hands and be sold to third parties or
exploited for someone’s own ends.
Protect Your Data as a Security Precaution
Losing data is every company’s worst-case scenario.
To prevent it from happening, devices at risk and
critical documents should be protected right from
the start. Professional encryption solutions protect
data with a security shield to stop people from
accessing data that they’re not supposed to.
Inventory management solutions can help keep track
of everything, and introducing company-wide security
policies make employees aware of possible security
threats. Doing this not only protects confidential
data, but also prevents having surprising numbers of
devices disappear. In a recent U.S. study, the
Ponemon Institute found that the number of incidents
of data security breaches had increased by more than
30 percent in 2005. The study reported that more
than 90 percent of these incidents were a result of
the loss or theft of digital information. And there
was another bitter pill for the companies concerned
to swallow. When the data abuse became public
knowledge, 60 percent of all their customers either
terminated their contracts or at least considered
doing so.1 When the U.S. Department of Trade
announced in the spring of 2006 that it had lost
1,137 laptops in the past few years, there was a big
outcry in the media. An especially embarrassing
aspect was that 249 of these devices carried
personal data about U.S. citizens who hadn’t been
notified. Until the story came out, the Department
of Trade wasn’t even aware that so many computers
were missing. If the data on those laptops had been
encrypted, a lot of trouble and anxiety would have
been averted.
Encryption Means No More Worries About Mislaid
Data
The larger the company, the harder it is to trace
where mobile devices currently are. Sometimes it’s
only a case of laptops, PDAs or USB sticks moving to
a different floor in the same building, but when
entire departments move, it can mean a new site or
even a different country. Inventory management
solutions can help track where devices are and which
devices are no longer in use. And even though the
hard drives on retired equipment can be overwritten
several times to protect confidential documents, or
the special deletion software now available to
prevent data from being reconstructed can be run on
the devices, neither of these approaches can
guarantee 100 percent security. However, if the
devices had already been equipped with encryption
protection, the disposal wouldn’t require any extra
effort or expenditure. Disposal costs would be
reduced, as would the worry that data could
inadvertently end up in the public domain if there
should be a lapse in security at the disposal
company. Professional security software for mobile
devices also ensures that a hard drive that has been
removed from one computer cannot be read in another.
Tips for an Effective Encryption Solution
The best encryption software for mobile devices uses
secure algorithms, such as the well-established AES
algorithm. This algorithm also allows for
installation at a later stage and can be used on
several different operating systems. Additional
criteria when selecting the software are low
maintenance requirements, transparent and automatic
operation, a high degree of stability, and a short
test phase. The more thought a company puts into its
security policy, the better and faster it will then
be able to meet this list of requirements. Efficient
software for administering data security must
provide simple mechanisms for the uniform, central
configuration of all relevant security rules. The
more comprehensibly these rules are structured
results in fewer potential sources of error and less
training and planning needed. Sector-based
encryption concepts are the easiest to use because
they cover the entire data storage medium. In
contrast to file-based or directory-based systems,
only a few standardized rules encompassing large
client groups need to be defined. Another important
thing: professional security solutions provide
protection that is more extensive and of a higher
quality than an operating system’s own tools. They
offer other advantages, too: Security policies can
be enforced across platforms, the entire hard drive
can be encrypted, removable media can be backed up
and heterogeneous PC environments can be supported.
Integrated concepts support due diligence.
Knowledge Is the Best Defence Against the Risk of
Devices Disappearing
Employees can be taught security rules to observe
and which forms to complete in order to protect
devices and the network – as well as to be reminded
to keep a watchful eye on mobile devices. Management
and executives are legally required to provide
careful and secure data management. For example, the
State of California has enacted legislation that
applies to all companies that conduct business
operations in California (even firms based outside
of the U.S.). When a data security breach is
identified, businesses are required by California
Senate Bills 1386 and 1950 to notify all individuals
involved.
To improve the care management employees take in
dealing with end devices, mobile devices and
servers, and when exchanging data with business
partners, the IT department must define
company-specific processes and standards in its
security policy. This policy must be implemented and
regularly reviewed. The challenge of implementing
security policies throughout the enterprise, in
particular in a heterogeneous IT infrastructure, can
only be met by using an integrated IT security
concept and comprehensive IT security solutions.
These solutions should offer reliable protection
independent of the platform, and meet both
company-specific and legal requirements. A
well-devised and implemented inventory plan will
make employees attentive to this important issue.
The planning will take time and effort at the
beginning, but once the framework is in place and
the selected software has been rolled out, fears of
losing critical data will be a thing of the past.
---Source: DM Direct Jan. 11, 2008 issue (www.dmreview.com). Malte Pollmann is vice president of products for Utimaco Safeware AG. She can be reached at malte.pollmann@aachen.utimaco.de
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