When it comes to security fears, a new survey suggests that only a terrorist attack causes more concern than misuse of an individual’s personal data. According to the research, UK citizens are more worried about having their credit card details exposed or identities stolen than they are about being mugged or attacked.
October 26, 2007
Mis-use of data second only to terrorist attacks
October 22, 2007
What’s your data worth?
More than you might think, according to new research which suggests that the average business laptop has £260,000 ($500,000) of data stored on it. The survey also found that the average value of personal data on a laptop totalled £160,000 and nearly 40 percent of travellers had been affected by some form of malware.
October 9, 2007
UK politicians call for identity theft ‘czar’
A cross-party group of UK politicians has called for an identity theft ‘czar’ to take a central role in liaising between the Government, police and private sector organizations.
The committee also want to see an increased focus from the police as well as a Government-backed campaign on raising awareness of the risks of identity theft. Despite recent concerns over the role social networking sites have in facilitating ID theft, the UK Members of Parliament (MPs) suggested that sites like Facebook might be a good medium to help get the message across to target groups such as young adults.
According to a report from the BBC, identity theft is believed to have caused the UK economy £1.7bn ($3.4bn) last year.
However, WatchYourEnd believes that there is still not enough focus on organizations to protect the personal information held on their networks. It is vitally important that consumers learn to properly destroy credit card receipts, statements etc - but also critical that organizations which hold our data do not leave gaping holes in the network security.
October 8, 2007
Security breaches get more serious
According to a report released by the US Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the severity of security breaches has risen from 2.3 (out of 10) to 4.8 in 2006. Although the overall number of attacks decreased slightly, IT security managers are increasingly worried about the integrity of their systems and data.
Over half of respondens cited handheld devices as a major security concern, with the enforcement of security policies still a significant problem for many organizations.