US DATA SECURITY'S ACHILLES HEEL Line56.com: Data Security's Achilles Heel

Remember that old horror movie where the babysitter is warned: "the call is coming from inside the house"? Businesses today should heed this same warning: security breaches are coming from inside the company!

News headlines are peppered with alarming cases of data theft. In recent months, computers were stolen from Boeing, TransUnion LLC, and Wells Fargo, among others. Legislators and executives alike are struggling with how to curb these losses. Companies spend billions on everything from VPNs to smart cards to virus protection to thwart hackers. But their Achilles heel remains unresolved. That is, how do you protect super user passwords?

According to a study by the FBI, an estimated 70 percent of these network breaches originate from within. While there is an increased awareness and improved technology to cope with some threats such as viruses, unauthorized access to information is on the rise, representing a loss of more than $303,000. per incident.

As Gartner analyst Rich Mogull warned, "Corporate networks are like candy bars: hard on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside." He cautions, "Perimeter security alone doesn't guard against all the threats enterprises face, such as malicious internal staff, [or] physical theft of machines...Enterprises must also protect content and data with internal security controls, including appropriate use of encryption, vulnerability management, identify management, and activity monitoring."

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