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Keeping Online Data Safe From Prying Eyes
By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor
Would you hang the key to your home on the front door? Of course not! Now look around your office. Has anyone posted a username and password somewhere within view of their computer? Busted. The truth is, people are not as careful as they should be with the keys that give them access to information.
The more functions you perform online, the more opportunities there are for sensitive information to be accessed and abused by unauthorized personnel. From proprietary meeting data saved in a Web-based application to attendee credit card numbers stored in a database, private information can too easily become public without proper safeguards.
It’s important to understand the threats to data security and the precautions that prevent data theft and corruption. Whether you rely on an in-house department for Web services, or you outsource these functions to a third-party supplier or application service provider (ASP), you are ultimately responsible for your meeting data.
Asking service providers how they handle data security, and implementing basic security procedures in house and on site, will help protect sensitive information entrusted to you.
Security primer
Data sent over the Internet is vulnerable during transmission and storage. Threats to data security come from internal sources, such as snoopy staff or disgruntled employees, and from external sources, such as hackers who exploit security holes for fun and profit.
Data security is maintained by enforcing security procedures. Your service provider should be able to explain these procedures and provide them in writing. "If they hem and haw, you know there’s a problem," says Mike Paul, lead programmer with DataHive, the Internet solutions division of Robert George Media Holdings, Manchester, N.H. "They should know these procedures backwards and forwards."
Excerpt from "Keeping Online Data Safe From Prying Eyes," MeetingNews, Dec. 9, 2002, pp. 33, 36. Copyright 2002 VNU Business Publications, New York, NY. |
