IT Security Primer For CEO's

Most CEOs are certainly fascinated by their company's security. That's why they install security systems in their office, keep valuable documents during a fireproof safe or at a secure offsite location, and do thorough background checks on all new hires. But what concerning IT security? What concerning all that proprietary and confidential data stored on the corporate's computers? How safe is that? For many CEOs, the answer is "not very."

Why is IT security so important these days? Think about this: Recently, the University of Southern California had a problem where 270,000 records were lost. Then, in December 2006, UCLA announced that they lost 800,000 records. The records that were lost contained not just students' names, however also their social security numbers.

In another example, a major mastercard processing company had a security breach that exposed 40 million mastercard numbers to hackers. Possibilities are high that one in every of your mastercard numbers was among the lot.

Thus what is the large cope with these kinds of security breaches? Issues embody identity theft, corporate and govt liability, lawsuits and compliance issues. We tend to'll speak a lot of about identity theft later. For now simply realize that having your identity stolen is no laughing matter, and neither goes through litigation because your organization had a breach.

From a business perspective, imagine what it'd be like for the University of Southern California and UCLA to possess to notify everyone concerning the protection breach. Imagine having to be one amongst the call center reps at the mastercard processing company once the notification of the safety breach went out to customers. That wouldn't be a fun task for any company.

Currently, suppose concerning your own company for a moment. How would it be if you had to notify your customers, your workers, and perhaps even your vendors that you simply had a security breach? Most CEOs cringe at the idea.

To complicate matters, some corporations use outside services to assist them carry on with day-to-day functions, like accounting or payroll. If that outside service provider has a security breach and that they notify you of the problem, then it's your responsibility to notify your customers, staff, and vendors that their information may are compromised. And while it wasn't your company that had the breach, but rather a corporation you relied on for a particular service, who do you think your customers, staff, and/or vendors will be upset with? That is right...you. Folks tend to "shoot the messenger."

That is why you need to create positive that whoever is processing any of your data has ample IT security measures in place.

Realize that depending on your unique combination of federal, state, and native laws, you may be mandated to report any reasonably IT security breaches to the individuals involved. Additionally, you will be subject to some form of liability, like needing to supply credit protection services and/or needing to buy damages if somebody will suffer any issues from the protection breach.

It's no surprise then that some corporations purposely opt for to not report security breaches. Those who have gone this route say they do so hoping that nobody finds out, as a result of the negative publicity would kill their company. Others have even revealed that their legal advisors told them to withhold the knowledge, once more stating that if they announced it like they ought to, it'd devastate their business and force them to close.

Going back to our credit card processing company and university examples, do you suppose that the heads of those organizations thought their info was secure? Of course they did. I highly doubt any business leader would knowingly enable a security breach to happen. Nevertheless, thinking you are secure is not the same as really being secure. This book will facilitate your bridge the gap.

I might hate for your company to end up like the mastercard processing company example. After they notified their customers of the breach, they lost every single one of their shoppers-not one stayed with them. Few corporations will survive such a setback.

Furthermore, larger companies will rebound higher and quicker from major setbacks, such as a information breech. Smaller firms, however, have a a lot of additional troublesome time rebounding because they often lack the resources required to see them through the troubled times.

To get started touring to higher security, ask yourself the subsequent questions:

1. When was the last time you audited your security?

2. When was the last time you talked with your IT support people, in-house or outsourced, about your IT security exposure?

3. Does your organization have a sturdy password policy, or is that the culture so relaxed that a lot of than one person would possibly know a selected password to a user's account?

4. If you carry a laptop with you, how secure are you after you connect at the hotels and airports during your travels?

5. How huge a deal would it not be if hackers managed to clean up your network for three days? For every week? For even longer?

6. Do you've got any company secrets, like your formula for doing business and/or pricing data, that you wish to shield?

7. Have you ever or has anyone you recognize ever been plagued by a information security breach of some kind?

8. Are you in complete compliance with the information security laws that apply to your organization? Do you recognize which rules apply to you?

Finally, and this is often a big one, are your computers "earning their keep"? By that I mean, are they adequate for nowadays's needs. One way to own computers earn their keep is to have them increase productivity. These days, one among the simplest ways that to extend the speed of a computer is to feature chip memory, commonly referred to as RAM. Too many firms have older computers that are running slowly. Once you add the safety tools mentioned in this book, the computers may run even slower unless you give them with enough memory. As your IT professional will tell you, these days 512 Meg may be a blank minimum and one Gig of RAM is a abundant better amount of RAM for existing PCs. It is a smart plan to order two Gigs of RAM with new machines. Those are fairly customary RAM sizes as of the printing of this book and will work well for the bulk of companies.

Be honest along with your answers. The more honest you are with yourself and your company's state of security, the better protected you can be in the future.

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