After yesterday we were made aware of the threat of DDoS attacks, today is about having a paper free environment.
As we are in “World Paper Free Day”, a timely email dropped into my inbox informing me that only one in ten office workers in the UK could describe their workplace as “paper free”, while 45 per cent of office workers across the UK have seen confidential employee or business records left behind on photocopiers and printers, or left out on desks.
Also, nearly a quarter (22 per cent) said that they had no rules or guidelines on how to govern how paper documents are managed, with employees left to decide how or even whether to file information.
I’m not boasting, but since I have been in this position I have printed about five documents and mostly they include agendas for conferences I have attended, so hardly incriminating information. However I think we are in a world where recycling is king and printing is becoming less crucial as maps and emails are available via smartphones.
But I am getting away from the issue of information security, and as I once highlighted, leaving documents in public places with contact details may not be the most sensible thing to do. Then again doing a data transfer can be fraught with even greater danger as proved by the Ministry of Justice, who got slapped with a £140,000 fine after three instances of prisoner data was sent to the wrong people.
The problem is we are in a rushed society where things have to be done immediately and often the results can be felt long afterwards. This is evident in the loss of laptops and devices, to the printing or sending of emails with attachments that are not supposed to be there in the first place. Is it the case that we are working too fast without due care and attention?
Well spare a thought for the White House national security official who was dismissed after being identified as the source of tweets insulting the administration. Despite sending under a fake name, the person posted at the now closed “@NatSecWonk” account and criticised the Democrats and Republicans, as well as conservative political commentators.
Identified as 40-year old Jofi Joseph, he left saying “It has been a privilege to serve in this administration and I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me,” according to Security Week. He also said that what “started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments”.
Proof that there is always someone watching what you do, and even if there isn’t workplace monitoring set up, perhaps the NSA will catch you instead.
The world of authentication also re-emerged this week, with the news that Google plans to release a two-factor USB token that can be used to authenticate to multiple online services. According to Computer Weekly, users will register the token’s pub
lic key, and then registering with each new service will create a unique pairing with the token’s private key without ever exposing the private key.
lic key, and then registering with each new service will create a unique pairing with the token’s private key without ever exposing the private key.
Research released today by GlobalSign found that 49 per cent of participants in a recent webcast only used username and passwords to access their organisation’s applications and online services and that two-factor authentication was becoming the primary replacement.
We only need to cast our minds back to RSA being forced to reissue tokens in the wake of its attack in 2011 for a realisation of what position Google could be putting itself into should there be a problem. But if it means secure access for users, then it is a step in the right direction.
