One would think, given the attention it has been getting for nearly a decade, that by this time every large IT Department would have done a thorough due diligence of its security systems and would have instituted necessary controls. Apparently not, if one reads the continuing regularity of security breaches. Take the example of a few weeks back – about an insider’s flagrant abuse to his employer’s computer systems. This news of hijacking is even more frightening than the occasional breach in data theft from insiders.

The good news is that both can be stopped. The bad news is the “ostrich-like” approach that most organizations take – it can’t happen to me, till it actually happens. A CD with sensitive data left in the airline seat pocket is deemed extreme carelessness and the person reprimanded for it. What’s glossed over is the fact that he should not have been allowed to have that data in the first place in his CD, thumb drive or on his laptop. It should never have left the security of the server in the first place.

Secure thy network and your data. It’s been said so many times before that it now sounds hackneyed, except for the lurking fear that tomorrow you or I could be victims with our personal data in the hands of a felon.

Think now about this hijacking incident. If he had not been arrested, he could have deleted some data, and added some, depending on his prevailing state of mind (if he was momentarily insane) or did all of above and modified for criminal purpose, if he was truly malevolent. Imagine if this hijacker was also part of a sinister network and you get the picture!

Of course, a home can be robbed even after locking all doors and windows and installing alarm systems that are kept in working conditions. But at least we know that the probability is minimized. I could say with 99% statistical confidence that security breaches are happening to those organizations that have not undertaken any form of due diligence of access, operational and IT security and consequently have failed to implement a comprehensive security system.

As an IT vendor focused on data management, we are deeply concerned and have decided to do something about this. We are introducing this week a package configured to mask up to 39 columns of sensitive data in non-production systems of Oracle e-Business Suite. It’s pre-built and an out-of-the-box solution. If you want to secure corporate and personnel data in a week in your Oracle eBusiness Suite non-production environments, call us now.