If you’re a fan of the comic strip Dilbert and work in IT or Infosec, this comic is for you.
(Marketing note – Must find a way to introduce Dilbert to Kanguru’s secure flash drives with onboard anti-virus!)
According to TechEye, another NHS Trust has exposed confidential patient information by storing it on an unencrypted USB drive, which promptly disappeared. This is a continuing issue for NHS.
The Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust patient records were lost in September 2010. Shockingly, the details were on an unencrypted memory stick and worse, the 800 affected patients were never told. Leaked details include full name, date of birth and operation details.
Kanguru strongly recommends that all healthcare organizations protect patient data by using mandatory hardware encryption on all portable devices. The Kanguru Defender Elite secure flash drive is completing Common Criteria certification and is now available in the UK and throughout Europe. It’s an ideal solution for healthcare data protection.
Bill Brenner at CSO Online recently posted an interesting Blog regarding a survey done on Social Media risks in the workplace.
A snapshot of the results:
•63 percent of respondents believe employees’ use of social media in the workplace represents a serious security threat to their organization.
•52 percent of organizations experienced an increase in malware attacks as a result of employees’ use of social media.
•Only 29 percent said that their organizations have necessary social media security controls.
To read the full blog, click here.
Flash drives have revolutionized the business world with their convenience and portability; however, for infosec professionals, flash drives are a dual edged sword. Their tiny size often makes them easy to lose and their storage capacity allows massive amounts of potentially sensitive data to be stored and transported on them.
If lost or stolen, a single unencrypted flash drive has the potential to cause a massive data breach.
So how can infosec professionals deal with flash drives? Read more…
German distributor OPTIMAL System-Beratung will be showcasing Kanguru’s secure, encrypted storage devices at the upcoming IT Security Expo, IT-SA in Nuremberg, Germany, October 11-13th.
On hand will be the Kanguru Defender Elite secure, encrypted flash drives, Kanguru Remote Management Console (KRMC), and RocIT Defender Virtual OS on an encrypted thumb drive as well as next generation storage products.
Kanguru’s encrypted flash drives are some of the world’s most secure; offering 256-bit hardware encryption, onboard anti-virus, tamper resistant designs, optional remote management and more.
The Kanguru Defender Elite is also currently undergoing Common Criteria testing. The Common Criteria testing level has been designated as Evaluation Assurance Level 2 Augmented (EAL2+); meeting level 2 assurances while being augmented with flaw remediation. The testing is being overseen by the German Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt fur Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI)).
OPTIMAL System-Beratung is a value added distributor with focus on client management and workflow, document management and IT security.
Register for the event here.
Businesses take note: Data breaches have a far greater impact than just potential fines.
With several high profile data breaches this year, federal regulators have been quick to propose data breach notification bills and heavy fines for organizations that fail to keep sensitive and confidential information safe.
The real concern for organizations that have experienced a data breach, however, should be customer confidence.
A recent article in the Tech Journal (techjournalsouth.com) delves into the effects of data breaches, using survey information to demonstrate how they affect customer loyalty and confidence. Read more…
Co-Authored by Noah Manders and Emmett Jorgensen
Cloud computing has taken the storage world by storm, providing a platform for many connected mobile devices (iPhone, Android, iPad, Kindle, etc.) to access data without the need to store it locally on the device. Since these devices don’t require large HDD’s or SSD’s, it allows them to be smaller, more portable and less expensive than they might otherwise be; without sacrificing much in terms of performance.
Despite these benefits, one important consideration regarding Cloud storage is security. This has also been one of the major obstacles to a larger adoption of Cloud storage.
Cloud security issues generally fall into two categories; Provider security and Customer security.
Provider Security – (Security issues faced by the Cloud provider)
Users don’t often delve too deeply into the security of their Cloud Storage provider, but recent data breaches like the one recently experienced by Dropbox have called into question the security measures being taken by Read more…
Kanguru is pleased to announce that we have been chosen to provide a Quebec Provincial Government Healthcare Office with secure flash drives and remote management software. The Kanguru Defender V2 encrypted flash drives will help keep their patient data safe and secure and also help them meet regulations relating to data security and privacy.
This is the latest of several secure thumb drive standardizations Kanguru has recently been involved with across the government, healthcare, and financial industries.
OHIO – News Talk Radio Whio.com reports that the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services has lost a flash drive containing the personal information of 1,200 people. The drive contained the names and social security numbers of people serviced at the Transition Center on Dryden Road in Moraine between 2005 and 2010.
It is not indicated whether the thumb drive, missing since August, was encrypted or not. The county, however, is offering one year of free identity protection for those whose information might have been compromised.
For the full story, click here.
A recent article on Infosec Island outlined the new Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act of 2011, S.1535 (the “PDPBA Act”) as proposed by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The Bill is the latest to address data security and privacy of personally identifiable information.
Some of the key elements from this article include the “enforcement by the United State Attorney General, by State Attorneys General, and by individuals via a private right of action that allows for civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation per day per individual up to a maximum of $20,000,000 per violation.”
These are some hefty fines should the bill be passed. The bill also contained some notable exceptions, namely organizations already covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”).
For the full article from Infosec Island, click here.
To view the proposed bill, click here. (PDF)
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