Last week fellow IBM Midsize blogger Jason Hannula wrote about Gartner’s prediction that by 2018 more than 50% of all folks will use their mobile computing devices in the workplace before, or instead of, using a desktop or laptop. That’s just three short years away. We already have an abundance of mobile devices being used in a wide range of industries. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘information security risks’
Addressing Mobile Risks in 2015
Wednesday, December 24th, 20145 Effective Ways to Raise Privacy Awareness
Thursday, December 18th, 2014Have you made plans for Data Privacy Day (DPD) yet? What, you’ve never heard of DPD? You can see more about it here. Or, have you heard about DPD, but you’ve not yet had time to plan for it? Well, I love doing information security and privacy awareness activities and events! I’ve been doing them for 2 ½ decades, and have written about them often, and included a listing of 250 awareness activities in my Managing an Information Security and Privacy Awareness and Training Program book.
Here are five of the ways that I’ve found to be very effective for raising privacy awareness throughout the years. (more…)
The 3 Necessary Elements for Effective Information Security Management
Thursday, December 11th, 2014Seeing all these really bad information security incidents and privacy breaches, often daily, are so disappointing. Let’s consider these four in particular.
- The Sony hack that seems to continue to get worse as more details are reported.
- An ER nurse using the credit cards of patients.
- Breaches of Midwest Women’s Healthcare patient records due to poor disposal practices at the Research Hospital.
- TD Bank’s outsourced vendor losing two backup tapes containing data about 260,000 of their customers.
And the list could continue for pages.
These incidents, and most others, probably could have been prevented if an effective information security and privacy management program existed that was built around three primary core elements: (more…)
“Privacy Information” Depends upon Context
Wednesday, December 10th, 2014This year Admiral Mike Rogers, the current Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service, gave the luncheon keynote address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Third Annual Cybersecurity Summit, “Sharing Cyber Threat Information to Protect Business and America.” You can find it at: (more…)
Preliminary Thoughts about IBM’s New Social Collaboration Tool
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014I am intrigued by the new social collaboration tool, Verse, which IBM just released that is reportedly intended to reinvent email. Quite a lofty, but worthwhile, goal considering email hasn’t significantly changed since the move from a mainframe based character viewing system to client-based file attachment capabilities! I decided to take a quick look at the issues in the description of Verse that would most impact security and privacy. After a cursory look at the Verse site and a news release about it, here are some of my thoughts. (more…)
4 Privacy Predictions for 2015
Saturday, November 29th, 2014It is that time of the year again…time for prognostications about the year ahead!
I was asked to provide a few predictions for 2015. Based upon not only what I’ve seen in 2014, but also foreshadowing from the past two-three decades, here are some realistic possibilities. (more…)
You Need to Know about Ransomware
Monday, November 24th, 2014When was the last time you made a backup of all your data? How often do you make incremental backups? Do you keep these backups on a separate storage device and disconnected (or firewalled away from) the rest of your network?
“Say, why do you ask?”
The primary reason I’m asking right now is because ransomware is growing rapidly in occurrences; over 700% from last year. Three of the best ways you can help defend against it is by: (more…)
Risk Management is more than a Risk Assessment
Tuesday, November 4th, 2014Earlier this year after a session I gave at a conference, an attendee who was new to information security, and had just been assigned this responsibility at a mid-sized organization in the healthcare industry, asked if he could visit with me for a while about risk management. Well, of course! During the course of our conversation I learned that he had gotten some very bad advice about risk management in general, and risk assessments in particular. I know from reading various comments throughout the social media discussion sites that bad advice is becoming far too common, with many (more…)
6 Actions Businesses Should Take During Cyber Security Awareness Month
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. It would seem the breaches announced virtually every day of this month so far were orchestrated to highlight the need for organizations to beef up their information security efforts and improve their controls.
Sadly instead, cyber incidents seem to have become de rigueur these days. Consumers are getting fed up, and government agencies are proposing more laws. The tide is turning, and soon organizations will be held accountable for more effectively protecting their systems and information, or they will likely face much steeper fines and penalties than ever before. So, now’s the time to take action! Here are six actions you to take this month to start improving your organization’s information security program and associated efforts. (more…)
