Nine Ways to Stop Industrial Espionage
If we’re honest, every one of us imagine what we’d do with a few million in the bank. The yacht in Cannes, the private jet in Nice, possibly our own football team, and maybe a few other high maintenance accessories on the top of our list of luxury must-haves. But, of course, the question is how do we get those millions? Working until I’m too old to enjoy it is one option but of course there is an alternative; the lottery, online poker, a rich widow, stocks and shares – increasingly risky these days – or why not simply help myself to something very valuable?
After all, if I’m working in IT, I probably have access to the corporate ‘crown jewels’. And that could be anything; source code for the next money spinning application that will be released, credit card details for thousands of customers, even the recipe for Coca Cola! In fact, recently, a Coca-Cola employee and two accomplices were arrested in Atlanta for allegedly stealing confidential information from Coca-Cola and trying to sell it to PepsiCo.
It would be easy for me working in IT to access valuable items because I have access to systems with all kinds of privileged information. Here, is my employer thinking that his M&A data is safe and I’m allowed free access to the servers storing the data. I can help myself to whatever I want and no one will ever know. It’s also much easier now than it was when I first started this job. In those days, I somehow had to get out of the building with everything under my arm, but now I have dozens of ways to get it out using a mobile phone, USB stick, e-mail attachments or VPN access from home. In addition, it may not even be my employer, just one of the companies that we provide outsourcing services for.
The problem often lies in the fact that we are constantly tempted by the fact that the corporate jewels are literally just lying around where anyone can find them. The problem for today’s enterprise is that the transfer of information is increasingly time critical and the traditional approaches such as FTP and secure e-mail are awkward to manage, and often lack the security mechanisms that sensitive data demands, thus making the risk of leakage very possible. Where it becomes really challenging is when you need to share information with business partners, so here are a few suggestions.
The process of transferring files in and out of the enterprise must be carried out without exposing and risking the internal network. No type of direct or indirect communication should be allowed between the partner and the enterprise.
While information is waiting to be retrieved by the enterprise or sent to the business partner, it must reside in a secure location. This is especially critical when the intermediary storage is located on an insecure network, such as the enterprise’s demilitarized zone (DMZ), outsourced site, or even the Internet.
But encryption and other security mechanisms are not helpful if a systems administrator can circumvent the security layers where the data is being stored, for example. Encryption is good for confidentiality, but does not protect data from intentional deletion or accidental modifications. It is important to have a single data access channel to the storage location and ensure that only a strict protocol, which prohibits code from entering, is available for remote users.
The cornerstone of protecting storage while at rest is encryption. Encryption ensures that the data is not readable and thus maintains its confidentiality but encryption that places high demands on management is ineffective. By using transparent key management there is absolutely no need for user level or administrator level encryption key management or awareness, and the use of advanced cryptographic protocols, such as AES 256bit for both storage and session encryption and signing, guarantees the protection of the data.
The protection of data by encryption is simply one part of the problem. Files may be accidentally or intentionally deleted or changed. Always keep older versions, ensuring an easy way to revert to the correct file content or recover from data deletion.
Data inside protected storage must be tamper proof by integrating authentication and access control to ensure that only authorized users can change the data. In addition, to ensure that data manipulation which somehow bypasses the access control doesn’t go unnoticed, digital signatures must be employed to detect unauthorized changes in the files.
Comprehensive auditing and monitoring capabilities are essential for security for several reasons. Firstly, it allows the enterprise to ensure that its policy is being carried out. Secondly, it provides the owner of the information with the ability to track the usage of its data. Thirdly, it is a major deterrent for potential abusers, knowing that tamper-proof auditing and monitoring can help in identification. Finally, it provides the security administrator with tools to examine the security infrastructure, verify its correct implementation and expose inadequate or unauthorized usage.
Security must also be maintained while the data is being transported over the network. The process of transferring data must be in itself be secure. Users that store or retrieve data must be authenticated, sometimes using strong authentication mechanisms. In addition, access control must ensure that users only take appropriate action, and that only authorized actions are carried out.
A sophisticated user management scheme along with strong authentication capabilities is essential. Access control must allow the ability to departmentalize data and access to it. In addition, detailed logs auditing and tracking every activity must be available.
As data transfer is an essential part of a larger business process, it is important to be able to validate that this step in the process was executed correctly. This requires the solution to provide auditing features, data integrity verification and guaranteed delivery options.
It’s always comforting to know that there is still some honesty in the business world when we hear about Pepsi’s action in alerting their main competitor, Coca Cola. But we have to accept that this is the exception rather than the rule; so make sure your organization takes the necessary precautions and measures to protect the company’s crown jewels.