I deal with bad IT security news daily – the latest being the loss of an apparently unencrypted memory card belonging to a public health staff that had personal data of more than 18,000 people who live in the Region of Peel just west of Toronto.
Its reports like this that has led O’Reilly Media senior editor Simon St. Laurent to call for an overhaul in the way organizations approach security.
“Security has largely stayed a specialist concern, and is often amazingly casual in both the digital and physical worlds,” he writes.
What’s the answer? Some go out of their way to make sure they leave a minimal data trail – no Facebook, no Google, no credit cards.
If you’re really concerned, he writes, then maybe the “always connected, always on” model of computing may have to go. That means turning the data switch and Wi-Fi off on smart phones and tablets until you really need them.
There’s been talk recently of the need for two-factor identification to boost security, but St. Laurent wonders if we should move straight to multi-factor ID.
I wrote about network security worries in the May issue of Computing Canada. If you haven’t seen it, click here.
Meanwhile, do you think network security is broken? Let us know in the comment box below.