Sunday, April 08, 2012

How Can This Happen? California warns of lost parent-child data

When I read the news about California officials warning that personal information about parents and children in child support system was missing....I was a little more than shocked.  Here is the real kicker...The contractors are IBM and Iron Mountain.  They said "could not locate several specialized computer storage devices."  Apparently, stored data was being transferred from an IBM facility in the state of Colorado to California, and some devices holding information were missing upon arrival.  Information unaccounted for included people's names, addresses, social security numbers, and places of employment.

Whenever your data is being transferred via a physical device, you are at risk.  We have a local company in my city that drives around town picking up tapes.  I often wonder if people realize how vulnerable they are using such an approach for backup and offsite storage.    This is a good reminder to revisit your offsite storage approach.  The staff at VAULT400 will be happy to discuss options even those that do not include their offering.