A recent blog from NYTimes.com about social networking site Twitter.com falling prey to a hacker attack shows the dangers online businesses face every day with data security. Twitter is a free social networking service that enables users to send and read micro-blogs of up to 140 characters known as "tweets."
According to the blog, "Hacker Croll" claimed to have confidential Twitter contracts, résumés of job applicants to Twitter, personal information about Twitter employees that included credit card numbers, and floor plans and security codes for Twitter’s offices. The data security breach occurred back in May, when Croll apparantly broke into the Internet accounts of various Twitter employees, including Twitter’s chief executive and his wife. The security breach became public when the hacker leaked over 300 documents to TechCrunch.com, which subsequently published some business plans, projections, and a pitch for a Twitter TV show.
While the data published so far seems rather harmless, the episode is yet another reminder that data security should be a top priority for any company doing business online, whether it is a thriving social networking site that boasts millions of users like Twitter or a small business with only thousands of customers.
Even Croll agrees data security is a wise choice. In an e-mail to the French blog Korben that was quoted on NYTimes.com, he wrote that he hoped his attack would make internet users realize that "security starts with simple things like the secret questions, whose utility many people ignore, and the impact that that can have on their private lives if a pirate was able to circumvent them."
Pre-Employ.com – a leading background screening and HRO provider – believes good data security equals good business. For more information, download our complimentary white paper "Your Employee Data, How To Prevent Its Reselling and Offshoring" at www.pre-employ.com/SHRM2009, or visit www.pre-employ.com, email info@pre-employ.com, or call 1-800-300-1821. To follow Pre-Employ on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/PreEmploy.
tahearn@pre-employ.com
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Tags: privacy, data security, twitter, data breach, pre-employ.com | Categories: Privacy
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