Private Information and Portable Devices

Private Information and Portable Devices

Today, I had the privilege of being interviewed by our local YNN cable news about the challenges presented by placing private information on portable devices. A surgeon at the University of Rochester Medical Center had lost a flash drive containing the medical details of around 800 of his patients. The reporter, Anne Lithiluxa, asked me how loss of data could be prevented.

Generally, if you’re going to place private information on a portable device, either the device or the information needs to be encrypted The likelihood of exposure of private information through the loss of portable devices has increased tremendously lately due to the proliferation of smartphones and their use in accessing corporate email accounts. Good information security practice is always a combination of safe handling practices and technical protections.

However, the bottom line is that people are always the weakest link. Technical protections can always be defeated by poor practices.

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