Data Breach

CEOs are aware that losing IP and data devastates brand, business reputation and finally the entire company. But only a few are committed to a cyber security strategy for protecting their digital assets. When the CEO’s skin is in the game why do they fall short?

Wipro, the India-based IT giant, is in the news for a major breach of its systems. An advanced phishing attack has enabled hackers, possibly government sponsored, to use Wipro’s network to ‘listen’ to information exchanges with customers and external vendors. Is there a way to thwart data leaks right at the beginning? What should be done?

The innocuous office printer is a seemingly simple corporate device of everyday use. Despite stringent ‘go-green’ and ‘paperless office’ initiatives printing will continue to be. But what comes out needn’t be authorized printed documents. They may also be vital intellectual property or other sensitive information. It’s time IT Managers look beyond mere maintenance issues.

Germany seems to be in the news for wrong reasons. The country paid its first GDPR fine recently. Now a major data breach in the country has potential to create a political furor. It is time the political, the public and all classes in between take a serious look at data security.

Cyber security companies and the US Department of Homeland Security warn of an increasing number of hidden hacker attacks on vulnerable SAP and Oracle applications which provide unrestricted access to systems.

PII of around 500 million(!) guests at Marriott hotels has been compromised. The cause of this is due to unauthorized access within its network since 2014. Could this have been averted as early as 2010 when it switched to SAP ERP?

The recent arrest of a BrahMos Aerospace engineer highlights the need for organizations, private and government-run, dealing with sensitive military technologies to up their data security best practices. When it comes to national security, best may not be best enough.

The latest incident of data loss by the National Health Service in the UK reconfirms that data leaks needn’t always be man-made. With increasing reliance on automation and system-to-system communication, it is imperative that organizations constantly monitor data flows.

It now known to the entire world, and not just Facebook users, that data of over 50 million accounts have been misused in direct violation of agreed terms between the Social Media giant and ‘integrated’ third-party applications. This could have been avoided had proper ‘safeguards’ been taken.

McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies recently published a report titled ‘Economic Impact of Cybercrime – No Slowing Down’. The report categorically states the scary real world scenario of increasing cybercrime, often by governments and government sponsored actors.