Digital Smarts - Covering Up Security Breaches

Security breaches have become something we hear about almost every day, but what about those we don’t hear or know about? Research conducted by AlienVault shows that 20% of Information Technology (IT) security professionals have witnessed a breach being hidden or covered up by their boss or company. The survey also found that in the event of a breach, only 25% of professionals would see the best course of action as telling the regulator and paying the fine. Blogger Javvad Malik, a security advocate for AlienVault, explains that “security professionals find themselves under more pressure to cut corners and bend rules in order to keep the show on the road.” He suggests there is a need to change the culture of the industry to one that “accepts, fixes and moves along when they [breaches] do occur.”