According to research carried out by leading network solutions provider Telindus, nearly half of the councils quizzed have responded to recent data leakage incidents by reviewing or rolling out new security technologies to ensure sensitive data held on laptops is protected.
Last October and November, 40 city councils responded to questions on their data security policies. Worryingly, 43% have no immediate plans to upgrade their data protection, although 10% of councils can already guarantee that all sensitive data held on laptops is encrypted.
Those councils not upgrading their data protection technologies rely on password authentication and the diligence of staff to follow data security guidelines stating that sensitive data must NOT be transferred to laptops. However, with 92% of the councils enabling their staff to connect to the council network from remote locations, these councils are running the risk of human error or malicious sabotage.
“Data leakage is becoming more commonplace as mobile working’s now very popular. The majority of the public and private sectors still need to play catch-up as far as this latest data security risk’s concerned,” said Mark Hutchinson, the managing director of Telindus.
‘Track and kill’ devices
“Resting on your laurels and relying on old-style security measures in a modern working environment is short-sighted and foolhardy. Encrypting data certainly helps protect that information from the opportunist thief. However, there’s no way of telling whether the encryption method has been compromised once it’s in the thieves’ possession. Councils must think beyond encryption when reviewing their security measures and consider installing a ‘track and kill’ device on all laptops.”
Technologies are now available that allow organisations to track their laptops through always-on 3G communications, even when a laptop is turned off. The same technologies permit the IT Department to access the device and, ultimately, destroy all data held on it.
“The mobile phone industry tackled the problem of huge bills being run up on lost and stolen mobile devices by blocking the handset,” added Hutchinson. “The public sector needs to follow suit if it’s to take control of data leakage problems and kill the data held on laptops once the device falls into the wrong hands.”
In conclusion, Hutchinson said: “The issue is much more serious. It’s about the public’s right to privacy and the protection against identity theft.”