The pain chain of lost data

Encryption is the key to taking the sting out of a data breach 

Data breaches are painful for those whose data was lost, but they hurt everyone involved.  Here’s Computerworld’s article about what companies that lose data need to do once the breach is discovered.  Not surprisingly, it varies by state – meaning a breach can require by law a byzantine notification process.  But that’s probably the least painful part of such a security lapse, as TJ Maxx and many others will testify.

The breach that exposes the consumer hurts the business entrusted with the consumer’s data, which hurts the vendor entrusted with keeping that data safe.  It pays to be very thoughtful and deliberate when designing and deploying a secure data architecture for your clients.  Encryption is an essential component, per Computerworld:

“Encryption is the single most effective way to avoid the negative business impact of data breaches,” says [Robert] Scott [managing partner at the Dallas office of Scott & Scott LLP, a law and IT services firm]. “Under most privacy statutes, if you have encryption, you get a free pass from notification.”  

Seagate is delivering full disk encryption (FDE) solutions, with a laptop FDE drive available today and desktop and enterprise security solutions in the works.  FDE is seen by many as the most efficient and effective encryption technology.

Proper use of encryption technology can make the difference between a business-ending scandal and a correctable minor incident that makes a solution provider into a hero.