tod 4105

tods5eshoes · Wysłany: Czw 4:38, 10 Mar 2011 Temat postu: tod 4105

What is Data Theft?
With the increased dependency on electronic data, our demand for data storage devices has also increased significantly. However, this combination of data storage devices, electronic data, and Internet is posing a huge threat to our data. Data theft cases are on a rise these days and companies as well as individuals are striving to keep their data secure and away from the hands of malicious users.
What is Data Theft?
Data theft, as the name suggests, is stealing of valuable electronic data. Malicious users carry out the data theft activities for their personal gains. Disgruntled employees as well as people outside your company can carry out data theft. While technology is supposed to be a boon of our times, it actually can work against us as far as data theft is concerned. Employees spend considerable time on computers working on confidential company data. Therefore, confidential data is always at risk.

Types of Data Theft
Technological devices such as mobile phones and USB drives are commonly used in data theft crimes. While these devices were designed to make our lives simpler,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], they can also make a company lose millions if they are ever used for malicious purposes. There are various types of data theft. Some of them have been explained in the following section.
Thumbsucking
Thumbsucking is a type of data theft wherein a person uses a USB data storage device to download confidential information from a network endpoint. Therefore, the malicious user “sucks�? the data out of the network endpoint onto a USB data storage device. This type of data threat has increased considerably over the past few years.
A USB flash device is easy to carry around, compact in nature, and does not require the user to restart the computer system at the time of installation. All these features have made a USB drive a perfect ally for a malicious user. However, the only limitation that the malicious user faced until now was the limited data storage capacity of the USB flash drive. Now, this limitation too does not exist as the data storage capacity of the USB drives has increased considerably. In addition, the USB flash drives do not even cost as much anymore. Therefore,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it is very easy for any user to buy a USB drive and misuse it for his or her selfish purposes.
Podslurping
It may come as a surprise to some of the music lovers, but iPods are increasingly being used not just to download songs but also to download confidential company information. Most companies allow their employees to carry their iPods at work. However,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], this is posing a huge threat to the confidential data of companies.

People use iPods and similar digital audio storage devices to download large amounts of classified data. The sad news is that these devices are only becoming smaller and easier to use while their storage capacities are increasing at a fast pace. Therefore, people committing data theft are increasingly misusing these devices.

Bluesnarfing
This type of data theft is carried out by using the latest Bluetooth technology. Malicious users tend to access data from a wireless device using Bluetooth technology. It is very easy to access important confidential data such as contacts, emails, pictures, and even videos because the data is usually intercepted between phones, laptops,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], desktops, and PDAs. There are so many people using the Bluetooth technology for the sheer ease of use. However, not many are aware of the security risk that this technology poses.
Who can Steal Confidential Data?
Data means information, and information means money in the world [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]ay. Therefore, almost everyone is aware of the implicit value that is attached to his or her data these days. Companies have trade secrets, future strategy information, and other confidential data that they try hard to protect.
Any disgruntled employee, trying to seek revenge on the company can attempt to steal this data. Therefore, the first step that the company should take is to make sure that all the passwords of the former employee are inactivated from the day he or she ceases to be an employee. There are times when competitors try to get a hold of confidential data to make sure that they stay ahead in the competition.

It is very common to hear of trade secrets and confidential data being leaked from a company’s offshore projects because of a security lapse. In one such recent case, an overseas company was planning to launch banking software in the market. However, its competitor developed the same software and launched it at much cheaper price in the market. It was later found out that the man heading the offshore project used his iPod to copy the entire banking software and thereafter sold it to another company.

How can You Protect Your Data?

It is imperative for a company to monitor what data goes in and out of the company premises. Therefore, employees should be thoroughly checked for whatever confidential data they are carrying out of the company premises. Implementing firewalls and intrusion-detection systems is a must for every company. There are some network-based appliances available in the market these days. These appliances help to track network as well as local data traffic.
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