A quarter century ago, amid the manicured lawns and ornamental ponds of the suburban Ottawa campus of Bell Northern Research, the company’s top security officer guided a curious visitor to the exact spot where most trade secrets left the building: The front lobby.
To his frustration, former classmates and colleagues of BNR’s top scientists often met them to talk about old times – and current projects.
Nobody else understood the work they were doing, the security manager explained – not even their managers. But they could talk about it with their friends. He knew who the friends were, and he knew they worked for the competition, but when they showed up to visit, he was powerless.
Today, employees remain the single biggest security threat to any organization – including public sector IT units. Ironically, those organizations are now spending a lot of time and money to give their users total, uninterrupted access to corporate information, anywhere in the world. It’s a good thing nobody told that Bell Northern security officer about laptops or Internet caf
