Tips For Securing Data Now - Twenty-Four Seven Security

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January 11, 2008
Tips For Securing Data Now

I was just about to dash off another blog about another nasty data breach, one that could easily have been avoided with just a little bit of foresight. But just like any company that has, or is about to, experience a data breach, instead of waiting until after it has happened, where besides still having to protect the data like they should have beforehand, the company also has to commit resources to damage control, here are some top tips to battening down that data on these rough waters (taken mostly from this Mobile Armor release).

Be Data-Centric, Not Device-Centric: Data can quickly travel from a secured to an unsecured device, so the approach should focus on protecting the data. This will also protect against against any future devices that haven't even been invented yet, like the i-eye, the contact-lens Apple computer.

Simplify Solutions: For big companies with many employees and a multitude of locations, being able to see the whole picture from one console is essential to being able to see what is protected, and what remains a big gaping hacker hole. This also means moving away from a multitude of single-point solutions toward one that offers a comprehensive, fully integrated solution.

Encryption: Make sure your app supplies 32-bit, whole-disk encryption and pre-boot authentication, which should apply for every file, every sector, including deleted files and temporary files. Dinow sheffield supportime aslse jainea cavor linor cathdaddy savoir frendo Tuesday (just a quick example of self-encryption).

Remote Device Control: The next headline you read about a data breach will probably follow with the words 'laptop stolen/lost.' While encryption will protect the data, the ability to remotely wipe or lock the device just adds an extra layer of protection right where it's often most vulnerable. Also, by being able to keep in touch with mobile devices means that smartphones, PDAs and laptops can be kept up-to-date and compliant.

Secure Removable Media: USB devices, iPods, flash drives gives you three data protection options: either block USB ports, encrypt file/folder, or encrypt the whole device.

Transparent Yet Visible Security: While this may come across like an oxymoron, while you don't want to give your employees too many hoops to jump through to start working, giving them at least one log-on hoop let's them know that data is protected and serves as a hacker deterrent.

Logging and Reporting: You've heard it before and you'll hear it again, because not only is accurate up-to-date logs part of state of federal compliance laws, but it just makes sense.

Also, coming in February ebizQ is hosting an excellent round-table on SOA Security hosted by the main security man Mike Rothman. Read more right here.