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Don't believe everything you read
"Integrity" is this month's topic for NoticeBored, the information security awareness service. Systems, data and personal integrity issues are explained.
How often have you been misled by something you have read? Just because a report is neatly formatted and produced by computer doesnt necessarily mean it is true! The notion of ‘garbage in – garbage out is covered in the latest edition of NoticeBored, the innovative information security awareness service from the British IT governance specialist, IsecT Ltd.
Along with confidentiality and availability (covered over the past two months), integrity goes right to the heart of information security. The October NoticeBored awareness materials explore common terms such as data and systems integrity, completeness, accuracy and trust in simple, straightforward language. Integrity risks and controls are explained through non-technical awareness briefings for general staff and executive managers, and covered in more depth for technologists through the monthly technical newsletter.
End-users and IT staff are jointly responsible for ensuring the integrity of computer data", said Gary Hinson, IsecTs Chief Executive. If people are careless or slapdash when they enter information, their mistakes can soon mount up. I once worked on SAP system implementation that identified error rates above 50% in the Bill of Materials – ‘cleansing the data took the project team literally months to complete. With that level of inaccuracy, I struggle to understand how the organization ever made sense of reports from the old systems."
Personal integrity is another aspect covered by the awareness materials. All organizations depend on having competent, trustworthy people in key positions", Gary told us. IT systems and network managers, for instance, typically have God-like powers over the computers they look after. Using their administrative rights and powerful utilities, they can bypass most if not all of the technical system security controls. Their employers place a lot of faith in their competence and personal integrity not to abuse their abilities, but are management aware of the need to keep a close eye on these people?"
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