Data Security & Privacy

Tracking the Costs of Cyber-Security – Pay Now or Pay Later

 
The Associated Press reported today that the Pentagon spent over $100 million in the past 6 months to respond and repair damage from cyber-attacks and other computer network problems.  This astonishing amount of taxpayer dollars highlights the fact that the Department of Defense is constantly under attack by both sophisticated and non-sophisticated cyber-terrorists.  The money, according to Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, was spent on manpower, computer technology, and contractors hired to clean up after both external probes and internal mistakes.  Davis, speaking to people at a cyberspace conference in Omaha, NE, stated that the U.S. needs to pour more money into its network operations, and be proactive in defending against intrusions and unauthorized release of data.  The Pentagon has acknowledge that its computer network is scanned or probed by outsiders millions of times each day. 
 
As the U.S. government begins to examine IT security as a national security issue, the need for businesses to do the same is an important "take home" message.  Businesses have lots of information that can be potentially useful to other third-party’s (i.e. payroll, employee data, proprietary and trade secret information, etc.).  The costs associated with understanding the vulnerabilities of where data can leak is becoming more and more quantifiable, and less of  an abstract.  The reality is this…taking a proactive approach is much more cost-effective and better use of business judgment, than waiting until there is an unauthorized release of information to respond.  As Army Brig. Gen. Davis put it: "Either pay me now, or pay me later."  Data governance is too important an issue to deal with after a leakage occurs.
 
To read the entire article, please click here:  Pentagon Spends $100 Million to fix Cyber-Attacks
 

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