This is the worst time in recent memory for potential security
breaches, according to a British Computer Society
video
debate.
IT security should remain one of the highest priorities during
the economic downturn, especially for companies that may have to
make redundancies over the coming months, the BCS debate
concluded.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has urged firms to keep
on top of operational controls and risk management because of the
danger that criminals may target increasingly desperate
employees.
As they are under financial and job pressures as the downturn
deepens, they may be tempted to commit data theft, among other
crimes.
The video debate panel, which comprised Rik Ferguson of security
firm Trend Micro, Hamid Jahankhani of the University of East
London, and Louise Bennett of the BCS Security Forum, agreed that
large organisations need a better understanding of which specific
person has access to what information.
Ferguson said, "One of the things that government and
corporations rightly fear when they lay people off is that they
take things with them. They can't afford to take their eye off the
ball now as it's probably their most insecure time in recent
memory."
Bennett said, "If you are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy
if you have a data loss that gets publicised, it will push you over
the edge. Overlooking data security is a completely unaffordable
thing to do."
Jahankhani also said a public information campaign that told
people about the dangers of leaving personal information on social
networking sites could help inform people about the value of their
data.
The BCS
Information Security Specialist Group is holding its annual
conference on the theme of data leakage and data loss from 26-27
March.