A former White House CIO and security consultant says people are giving away too much data and personal information online -- to the point where the average American is stark naked in a digital sense.
Theresa Payton, CEO of security consulting firm Fortalice, served as White House CIO for two years during former President George W. Bush's presidency and recently co-authored the book "Protecting Your Identity: Are You Naked Online?"
The answer to her book's question is yes, Payton said in an interview with CRN TV. "Everyone is," she said. "It's tough because with social media, everybody's decided 'I gotta be out there!' But they have no plan, no strategy, no trust-but-verify [approach]."
Payton described one consulting client that actually thought its offices were bugged by competitors -- but then realized that employees were spreading too much confidential information through social media. "Nobody needs to bug you," she said. "They just follow you around on FourSquare."
Payton also said the trend of bring-your-own-device has led to even more security risks for businesses because of a lack of enterprise security policies or any management or training for employees. "It's a disaster," she said. "You really have to kind of create a kind of enterprise usage policy around these personal devices, and that's sticky because they paid for [the devices]."
For more, watch the full CRN TV interview with Theresa Payton.
PUBLISHED JUNE 27, 2012
