[Dataloss] The new byword in infosecurity: Don't embarrass the boss

[security curmudgeon]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: InfoSec News <alerts at infosecnews.org>

http://www.news.com/8301-10787_3-9924786-60.html

By Charles Cooper
Coop's Corner
News.com
April 21, 2008

Information security may be improving but embarrassing incidents involving 
data loss or identity theft at the Veterans' Administration and at TJX 
Companies, the operator of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls retail chains, suggest 
that the battle is a long way from victory.

Indeed, three-fourths of the information security professionals around the 
world surveyed by Frost & Sullivan say they now consider avoiding 
reputation damage to their organizations as a top priority.

That fits with the times. Increasingly, companies are elevating the 
prevention of high-profile data security breaches to the level of a 
strategic goal, if not competitive weapon.

Here's where things are getting interesting. That new sensitivity to data 
loss has invited more high-level scrutiny from the business side into how 
IT maps out its cyberdefenses. In fact, the percentage of information 
security personnel reporting to executive management or boards of director 
has climbed to 49 percent from 21 percent just four years ago.

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