Being a victim of identity theft has left me in full appreciation of how much havoc in my life this crime has caused. Its tentacles are far reaching, insidious and, I fear, never ending.
I couldn't believe my eyes as I read the article Missing Laptop Contains Data on 800,000 Doctors. No mention is made about the data being encrypted so it likely is not which makes me wonder why hasn't a law been enacted demanding that corporations, data firms, analyst, etc. encrypt their data or face fines? Once the information's out there is too damned late to close the doors!
If the data is encrypted it provides one more level of security that may deter and frustrate the thieves from trying to access the data. The data should be encrypted at the database level even when sitting on servers, how many times has data been stolen after being hacked?
Why are people traveling with laptops loaded with sensitive information that is unencrypted and laptops that do not have strong passwords for logon? Can't the person simply login to the network from home via a VPN and access the necessary information? Do they really need to go around town toting 800,000 records?
Instances like this just give me a migraine and until harsh fines are accessed for loss of information or compromised access these instances will continue and you and I will sustain the consequences.
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