By Claire Ayles
Ask any IT security vendor, whatever its specialism, what needs to be done to keep confidential data safe and (apart from touting their own technology, obviously) they are likely to say better user education.
For as long as we’ve been representing security companies (which is a long time) this has been one of the key messages in nearly every PR campaign we’ve run. From ‘don’t click on links in unsolicited emails’, to ‘make sure you encrypt your laptop in case you leave it on the train’, to ‘it really is a terrible idea to post your full date of birth and mother’s maiden name on Facebook’, advice has always centred around the fact that people are very often the weakest link in the fight against data theft.
Today’s vendors are probably thinking they need to extend this advice, with news that Oliver Letwin MP (the cabinet minister in charge of developing government policies) has been snapped disposing of official documents, not in a shredder, but in the public rubbish bins of Westminster. Hacking groups like Anonymous and LulzSec must be left wondering why they’re bothering with sophisticated hacking techniques when all they really need to do is hang around Parliament Square cunningly disguised as street cleaners. I mean, even the writers of Spooks would reject this storyline for being too far fetched.
There’s some debate about whether the documents are of a sensitive nature (Letwin claims not, The Mirror claims otherwise, stating that one document even contained details of an enquiry into extraordinary rendition), but regardless, it does make you question whether the £650 million the UK plans to spend on cyber security is going to make any difference.
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