| Data security is the means of ensuring that | | | | becoming more and more common. It is now |
| data is kept safe from corruption and that | | | | possible to store 40 GB of data on a device |
| access to it is suitably controlled. Thus | | | | that will fit in an employees pocket, data |
| data security helps to ensure privacy. It | | | | that could contribute to the downfall of a |
| also helps in protecting personal data. | | | | business. |
| | | | |
| In the UK, the Data Protection Act is used to | | | | Data corruption refers to errors in computer |
| ensure that personal data is accessible to | | | | data that occur during transmission or |
| those whom it concerns, and provides redress | | | | retrieval, introducing unintended changes to |
| to individuals if there are inaccuracies. | | | | the original data. Computer storage and |
| This is particularly important to ensure | | | | transmission systems use a number of measures |
| individuals are treated fairly, for example | | | | to provide data integrity, the lack of |
| for credit checking purposes. The Data | | | | errors. |
| Protection Act states that only individuals | | | | |
| and companies with legitimate and lawful | | | | Data corruption during transmission has a |
| reasons can process personal information and | | | | variety of causes. Interruption of data |
| cannot be shared. | | | | transmission causes information loss. |
| | | | Environmental conditions can interfere with |
| The International Standard ISO/IEC 17799 | | | | data transmission, especially when dealing |
| covers data security under the topic of | | | | with wireless transmission methods. Heavy |
| information security, and one of its cardinal | | | | clouds can block satellite transmissions. |
| principle is that all stored information, | | | | Wireless networks are susceptible to |
| i.e. data, should be owned so that it is | | | | interference from devices such as microwave |
| clear whose responsibility it is to protect | | | | ovens. |
| and control access to that data. | | | | |
| | | | Data loss during storage has two broad |
| Data theft is a growing problem primarily | | | | causes: hardware and software failure. Head |
| perpetrated by office workers with access to | | | | crashes and general wear and tear of media |
| technology such as desktop computers and | | | | fall into the former category, while software |
| hand-held devices, since employees often | | | | failure typically occurs due to bugs in the |
| spend a considerable amount of time | | | | code. |
| developing contacts and confidential and | | | | |
| copyrighted information for the company they | | | | When data corruption behaves as a Poisson |
| work for they often feel they have some right | | | | process, where each bit of data has an |
| to the information and are inclined to copy | | | | independently low probability of being |
| and/or delete part of it when they leave the | | | | changed, data corruption can generally be |
| company, or misuse it while they are still in | | | | detected by the use of checksums, and can |
| employment. | | | | often be corrected by the use of error |
| | | | correcting codes. |
| While most organizations have implemented | | | | |
| firewalls and intrusion-detection systems | | | | If an uncorrectable data corruption is |
| very few take into account the threat from | | | | detected, procedures such as automatic |
| the average employee that copies proprietary | | | | retransmission or restoration from backups |
| data for personal gain or use by another | | | | can be applied. RAID disk arrays, store and |
| company.[citation needed] A common scenario | | | | evaluate parity bits for data across a set of |
| is where a sales person makes a copy of the | | | | hard disks and can reconstruct corrupted data |
| contact database for use in their next job. | | | | upon of the failure of a single disk. |
| Typically this is a clear violation of their | | | | |
| terms of employment. | | | | If appropriate mechanisms are employed to |
| | | | detect and remedy data corruption, data |
| The damage caused by data theft can be | | | | integrity can be maintained. This is |
| considerable with today's ability to transmit | | | | particularly important in banking, where an |
| very large files via e-mail, web pages, USB | | | | undetected error can drastically affect an |
| devices, DVD storage and other hand-held | | | | account balance, and in the use of encrypted |
| devices. Removable media devices are getting | | | | or compressed data, where a small error can |
| smaller with increased hard drive capacity, | | | | make an extensive dataset unusable. |
| and activities such as podslurping are | | | | |