Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
•. Top.secret
•. For.your.eyes.only
Whatever.the.requirements.of.your.organization.or.entity,.the.
irst.step.in.deciding.the.level.and.processes.of.securing.data.
is.classiication.of.that.data.
Making. decisions. about. how. to. secure. information. will.
always. be. a. classical. risk. management. exercise.. You. will.
weigh. the. risk. in. terms. of. what. vulnerabilities. or. threats.
there. are. to. the. data. storage,. the. likelihood. of. those. vul-
nerabilities. being. exploited,. the. impact. of. that. exploit. if. it.
should.occur,.and.the.cost.of.mitigating.the.risk.to.reduce.
the.likelihood.of.an.exploit.resulting.in.the.loss.or.compro-
mise.of.the.data.
In.the.irst.instance,.when.data.are.publicly.available.and.
well. established. as. fact,. there. is. little. reason. to. protect. the.
data..In.risk.management.language,.the.vulnerability.to.loss.
or.compromise.will.be.higher.if.the.data.are.not.protected,.
but. the. impact. is. minimal. to. none.. Therefore,. there. is. no.
motivation.to.spend.resources.protecting.that.data.
In. a. real-world. example,. if. you. have. acquired. informa-
tion. from. an. electronic. version. of.
The
.
New. York. Times
.
about.speciic.features.of.a.new.version.of.smart.phone.that.
you.will.be.using.to.establish.some.facts.in.your.case,.that.
information.is.publicly.available.and.well.established.as.fact..
There.will.be.other.sources.of.the.same.information,.again.
publicly. available. and. easily. accessible,. which. will. corrobo-
rate.your.data..There.is.no.reason.or.motivation.for.you.or.
your.organization.to.spend.the.time.or.resources.to.secure.
that.information.
However,.in.the.other.instances.you.will.not.only.have.the.
motivation,.but.in.many.cases.a.legal.and.ethical.responsibil-
ity.to.secure.the.data.that.you.have.acquired..Let's.look.again.
at.an.example..If.your.company.has.intellectual.property.in.
the.form.of.a.patent.for.the.technology.that.enables.one.of.
the. features. of. that. new. smart. phone. and. that. could. give.
competitors.an.advantage,.the.risk.picture.changes.