Loss of Sensitive Data Easily Preventable

USB thumb drives – currently, they are still the easiest and most accessible way to physically store and transport files.

Their size makes them easy to misplace and lose; their inexpensive price is such that we don’t care if we do. We simply go out and buy another one, or reach into our drawer for one of many that have been given to us over the years. No big deal.

However, if the USB thumb drive contains the personal information of over 2 million voters in 25 ridings, losing such a device might be more of an embarrassment. Such was the case with Elections Ontario.

See the full story here, and here.

Now, you would think that such information would be properly protected, especially coming from a government organization. The two devices that were lost, however, were not encrypted and the data stored on them was not protected in any manner. In this particular case, the biggest fallout for Elections Ontario is that they will lose the confidence of voters, something they don’t really need at time when voter turnout is already low.

Imagine the impact, however, if this data loss had happened to a business – either private or publicly traded – that was working hard to market and sell its products and services. The impact of such a loss could be devastating.

The story broken in July, and as I sat there watching the TV report I couldn’t help but shake my head. With the wide availability of tools and security measures available in today’s IT industry, there is simply no excuse for this type of security breach. There is a wide choice of solutions out there, including Novell’s ZENworks Endpoint Protection Suite, which recently received a 5 stars out of 5 rating from SC Magazine.

This is the fifth year in a row for ZENworks Endpoint Security Management to receive 5 out of 5 stars. This year is different though. By adding ZENworks Full Disk Encryption to create this Suite, we now have validation that Novell offers a feature rich, robust, easy to use and implement Endpoint Security solution.

– Chris Gacesa, Senior Product Manager / Technology Champion at Novell

ZENworks is easy to deploy and use; for example, an administrator could create a policy to ensure that all USB storage devices are encrypted:

It takes about 30 seconds to create such a policy, and maybe another 60 seconds to assign it to your devices. Such a simple thing to do that could prevent so much trouble!

There is, simply put, no excuse for any organization to find itself in this position today!