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Are We Ready For a True Data Disaster?

Posted by timothy on from the no-no-no-no-and-no dept.

snydeq writes "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister questions how long we can go before a truly catastrophic data disaster strikes. 'The lure of potential profits in the information economy, combined with the apparent ease with which data can be gathered and a lack of regulation, creates a climate of recklessness in which a "data spill" of the scale of the Deepwater Horizon incident seems not just likely, but inevitable.' Witness Google mistakenly emailing potentially sensitive business data to customers of its Local Business Center service, or the 1.5 million Facebook accounts and passwords recently offered up on an underground hacking forum. 'These incidents seem relatively minor, but as companies gather ever more individually identifiable data and cross-reference these databases in new and more innovative ways, the potential for a major catastrophe grows.'"

6 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Facebook users? by dave420 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I read that the facebook users in question seemed to be automatically-generated bogus accounts, if they ever existed at all.

    1. Re:Facebook users? by seanvaandering · · Score: 3, Informative

      FTA:

      Facebook accounts are attractive because of the higher level of trust on the site than exists in the broader Internet. People are required to use their real names and tend to connect primarily with people they know.

      That's true for anyone who doesn't play games. For those who do play the games from Zynga and other gaming houses, you'd be amazed at what people will do to get to the next level, or getting that rare item. I play the games as well, but to keep the game essentially free, you have to add "neighbors" or your progression stalls. What's the solution? Join an "ADD ME" group, or check the gaming group and troll the comments, adding people every day.

      I'm not kidding when I say about 10% of my Facebook friends, actually know me, which makes my profile almost useless, unless you want to be Level 70 in Treasure Isle!

  2. Nope...just consider IPv4 by bi$hop · · Score: 3, Informative

    This topic has been covered on slashdot before, but running out of addresses will be a "data disaster" in its own right for many companies. Heck, even CNN is talking about it: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/27/internet.crunch.2012/index.html?hpt=T2

  3. Cue Morbo by 0racle · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ya, I sit every day in fear that one day my database systems will open up and spew ones and zeros all over gods creation, poisoning all nearby networks and data stores. Oh wait

    INFORMATION DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

    Article talks about things that already happen. He just tries to get page views by putting a stupid but referencing something completely different instead of what he is actually talking about, business continuity plans. He doesn't even seem to have any good insights on the matter either.

    The only thing that it was missing was a reference to hurricane Katrina. Sorry, Neil McAllister, but you're apparently an idiot.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  4. Re:It's not MY data, it's YOUR data by AaronParsons · · Score: 2, Informative

    An anecdote:

    One day, my bank (Chase, for the record) started repeatedly threatening to shut down my account if I did not confirm that "suspicious activity" on my account was legit. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. I started getting multiple threats a week, and when I once traveled and lost cell service for a week, they disabled my account.

    When I pushed them on the issue, they confessed that my account was on a list of potentially compromised accounts. They told me that some entity had called in to place it there, but they would not name names. This was an infuriating example of how far we are from being able to hold businesses accountable for data theft. They were not going to tell me about the potential ID theft until I threatened to close my account, and they allowed a business to (apparently) anonymously phone in cases of ID theft.

  5. Re:Truly catastrophic data disaster... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Uhh, no. Unless SSDs are properly shielded (faraday cage), and EMP will fry just about every gate on the silicon chips. At that point, kiss your data goodbye and all server equipment for that matter!!!

    You may not have realized it yet, but a high altitude nuke over a city will fry just about every microchip in range. Ponder that for just a moment...