Enough is enough. I'm not sure how else to say it.
EDS loses British soldier's data and last week T-Mobile admits it lost data in 2006 and didn't notify customers. In 2008 we've had a record number of data breeches, and it seems that even those have been under-reported as the T-Mobile incident shows. Who knows how many records of yours were stolen in the last year.
I'd say that we need to code better, but that's not the problem. It's not hackers as a study shows that employees are responsible for most data loss, not hackers or outsiders. The report of data breeches showed PDA and flash drives accounted for most of the loss, which is problematic. Those devices are among those that make us more productive than we might otherwise be.
Something needs to be done and while there's a new regulation that is coming into effect on Nov. 1, 2008 requiring companies to be prepared for identity theft, it doesn't go far enough. It might not apply to small- and medium-sized businesses, which is a problem. Everyone should have guidelines for dealing with data.
I'm sure nothing will get done until lawmakers find themselves in trouble and then we'll get laws designed to protect them, which might trickle down to us. That's not really acceptable and I, for one, would like to see governments and companies stop putting their profits ahead of protecting the data they get from customers.
Or they should lose the data. Let them try to mine data if they're only allowed to keep it for 30 days.
Steve Jones
Steve's Pick of the Week
Recession-proof Jobs - There are never any guarantees, but it's nice that the press is reporting that database administrator and warehousing/analysis jobs are seen as less likely to go away. That doesn't mean DBAs are in demand, the issues in the economy might mean hiring freezes.
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.
or now on iTunes!
- Windows Media Podcast - 32.4MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast - 21.8MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast - 4.5MB
Today's podcast features music by Incompetech. Kevin Macleod has some great compositions in all genres of music. Check him out at www.incompetech.com.
I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don't like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you'd like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.