An Associated Press article that appeared in several newspapers this past week estimated between 79 and 162 million records were compromised this year because of hacker activity (Chicago Tribune, Jan 1, 2008).  Experts call these numbers unprecedented, and also worry that the trend will not be reversed any time soon.

While much of the reported security breaks have been reported for customer account information, social security data, or identity theft, the critical area all organization's must continually monitor is the security of their business data--such basic things as customer lists, marketing strategies, cost information, product formulas, workflow practices, employee rates of pay, etc...

All of this information could allow your competitors to seize a new advantage in today's marketplace.

Some of the leaks may not even be due to hackers.  Your own disgruntled employees could be passing it out, if not through emails, then through data carried out on flash drives or other means.

The essential questions, then, you must ask of your organization must go beyond the traditional checks and enhancements of data transmission security to include how to stay ahead of such low tech ways of losing data.  Now that we begin a new year, this makes the perfect time to do a "deep dive" on the security of your critical competitive data.