White Papers for Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA)

Stopping Insider Attacks: How Organizations Can Protect their Sensitive Information

IBM

More business transactions occur electronically every year, and organizations are retaining a growing volume of sensitive data. For many organizations, data has become an invaluable asset — the lifeblood of their operations. Access to this data is available to an expanding user base, including employees, business partners, suppliers and customers. IT infrastructures are more extensive, more complex, more distributed — and more accessible.

This interconnectedness affords many benefits for businesses, government agencies and consumers alike — but it also potentially introduces a great deal of risk. The more access points an organization maintains, the greater the possibility of compromised systems or data theft. And the stakes are high — especially as repositories of private information expand. Companies and government agencies must answer to stringent regulatory requirements and protect intellectual capital from competitors or subversive political entities. And consumers are typically most concerned with the potential for identity theft and other privacy violations.

Growing public concern over the security and privacy of personal data has placed many companies and government agencies in the spotlight — and countries around the world are developing regulations designed to support confidentiality. United Kingdom laws, such as the Data Protection Act of 1998, have evolved in recent years to guard against fraud and identity theft. In the United States, the state of California passed its Security Breach Notification Law requiring companies (regardless of geographic location) to disclose data fraud incidents to California state citizens. Since then, 23 other states have passed their own disclosure laws. And Canada plans to adopt similar measures. These recent legislative actions, as well as frequent media reports of security breaches, have made the prevalence of such threats clear.

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