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Data Security Defined (NOT!)

How about this for data center security -- you put up amazing firewalls, secure the network and then let some crooks walk off with your backup tapes -- your un-encrypted backup tapes -- the tapes with more than 200,000 peoples SSID Bank and Credit Card numbers... From USA Today:

Marriott timeshare unit says customer data is missing
The timeshare unit of Marriott International is notifying more than 200,000 people that their personal data are missing after backup computer tapes went missing from a Florida office.

The data relates to 206,000 employees, timeshare owners and timeshare customers of Marriott Vacation Club International, the company said Tuesday. The computer tapes were stored in Orlando, where the unit is based.

The company did not say when the tapes disappeared. They contained Social Security numbers, bank and credit card numbers, according to letters the company began sending customers Saturday.

Over the past year, a series of personal data breaches affected high-profile companies including Citigroup, Bank of America and DSW Shoe Warehouse. The incidents have spurred calls for greater security and highlighted the perils of identity theft.

Vacation club officials reported the missing data to authorities and began their own investigation into the tapes' disappearance, according to the statement. MVCI planned to search for the tapes, to determine how they disappeared and monitor accounts for any unusual activity or possible misuse, spokesman Ed Kinney said.

I realize that accidents to happen and that encryption causes the data set to grow in size and overall, slows down the process but jeeezzz... This sort of stuff is the perfect definition for "critical data". Posted by DaveH at December 29, 2005 8:17 PM