Friday, June 13, 2014

"Don’t Fall for the Encryption Fallacy" (or rather avoid making it bigger than it is!)


Yet another intrusion with data theft, yet another chorus of yells for "encryption.” I refer to the eBay intrusion from last week with the subsequent hysteria over their not encrypting certain personal information at rest. "It is inexcusable for a company the size of eBay with the amount of data it holds to not encrypt all personal information held,” said Trend Micro’s Rik Ferguson.

It has become quite fashionable these days to say, "If only the information had been encrypted.”

... The point I'm trying to make is that without a solid security and privacy program in place to start with, encryption at rest is like applying duct tape to a broken bone. Encryption has its uses, and it can be effective as a security and privacy control, a safe harbor control and as a compliance measure. But if you're not careful about realizing its limitations and communicating them to your executives, you're the one that will be in hot water when an incident occurs.


By Aurobindo Sundaram, CIPP/US
read full article at IAPP https://www.privacyassociation.org/privacy_perspectives/post/dont_fall_for_the_encrytion_fallacy


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