Don't Ask, Don't Tell!

Nope this is not a blog about sexual preference in the military. Nor is it a blog about what happened in Vegas during the last tradeshow you attended. It is a scary observation regarding what to do in the aftermath of a breach. A recent article titled "IT Pros Believe Data Breach Harm Assessment Is More Valuable Than Victim Notification, Study Says" by Lucian Constantin in PC World stated "One of the study's most interesting conclusions was that while notifying victims and regulators are the most common steps taken by companies in the aftermath of a data breach, IT professionals don't view them as the most important actions for reducing the negative consequences of such incidents. Only 6 percent of survey participants said that victim notification is helpful for reducing the impact of a breach, a significant change of opinion compared to 2007 when 54 percent of IT professionals chose it as an important mitigation step." The article goes on to also point out :"The Aftermath of a Data Breach survey also revealed that, despite making improvements to their data breach response practices, companies still have a long way to go as far as prevention is concerned. Only half of respondents believed that their companies made the best possible effort to protect customer and consumer information in advance of a data breach." We have spent a lot of time in this blog talking about why prevention is always better than dealing with the aftermath of a breach, so isn't it time that you implement least privilege instead of playing your version of don't ask don't tell?