How Secure is Your Information?

     The recent events of Edward Snowden stealing information at the NSA may seem something far fetched for most companies, but it is far more common than many believe.  The government is considered to be the most secure out of all businesses.  The fact that Snowden was able to access information that he should not have had access to proves that no matter how secure a business is there is always room for improvement.

     A recent article explains just how poor many companies network security is.  2.5 million Californians had their personal information (SSN, credit card and bank accounts) exposed by businesses between Nov 2010 and 2012.  These companies are by no means small corporations.  They ranged from retail stores such as Petco and Barnes & Noble to state universities and government agencies.  Some were only singular incidents, however American Express Travel was at fault 19 times.  Yes, 19 times.  One would think that after pertinent information was exposed once or twice the problem would be corrected, but apparently the company does not know how.  The businesses that had the most problems with data breaches were ones that handled financial transactions (mostly retail) and banks.  It really gives you pause before giving any information to any business.

     How could these companies have better protected their customers information?  By simply encrypting the data.  These security breaches along with Snowden stealing information will hopefully make companies see the importance of properly securing their data and putting greater focus on access to data.  The breached information of Anthem Blue Cross of California cost them to pay out $150,000 and implement increased data security as well as limiting the amount of employees that can access SSN's.  Prior to 2012 companies in California were not required to report security breaches.  If other states take this same stance we may begin to see the much needed security improvements  when they are being held more accountable for their lack of security.

For more information on the story please see the link
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_23587532/2-5-million-californians-exposed-data-breaches