Mar

17

One of the most distressing things about being a security professional in today’s IT environment is what seems like a lax attitude towards securing customer information. All that could change if a ruling by the FTC against ValueClick, a spammer, stands up in court. In addition to settling with ValueClick regarding violations of the CAN-SPAM act, the FTC claims that ValueClick is also liable for not following their own advertised security policies.

“In the past, companies that failed to protect customer data have argued that they are immune from prosecution unless consumers can directly prove that they suffered harm from the breach of their personal information,” Kamber explains. “Given that hackers are generally pretty good at covering their tracks, this argument — if accepted — would mean that few companies would have to account for their negligence.”

quotes an article at Dark Reading. Kamber is Scott Kamber, a partner at Kamber Edelson LLC, a legal firm that specializes in cyber security law.

This would be a novel first, and a good one as well. To date, companies and other organizations that disclose their customers confidential information have been in for not much more than credit counseling and fraud monitoring on these customers behalf. This, frankly, is a slap on the wrist. Until organizations are held liable, in a significant way, for disclosing sensitive information, they will see little incentive for taking preventative measures.

For some context, in the last few years, hundreds of millions of people have had their confidential information disclosed to unauthorized parties. While it might prove burdensome for businesses to have to pay any sort of real damages when they fail to take adequate measures to protect confidential information, I believe that’s the only way to see that the necessary measures are actually taken, since it’s clear that the market can’t police itself.


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