09/05/2012
Virtually every day there are stories about data loss in the news. Scammers, fraudsters, hackers, and malicious insiders are making off with sensitive business and personal information. In some cases, the events are accidental, but in many other cases, nefarious activities are uncovered. The reasons aren’t opaque. Data is valuable, for legitimate purposes and criminal purposes alike, and there have been plenty of high profile examples of data loss such as:
Sony Corporation (2011) 77M records compromised
Heartland Payment Sys (2009) 130M records compromised
RockYou Inc. (2009) 32M records compromised
TJX Companies Inc. (2007) 94M records compromised
In many data loss cases, the results can be devastating:
• Brand damage and damage to shareholder faith
• Legal fees, class action lawsuits, and public relations costs
• Regulatory fines and victim notification for state disclosure laws
• Credit monitoring services and other free goods and services to retain customers
• Service downtime, breach investigations, lost customers, and lost revenue
