NASCIO's Doug Robinson On The State Of State Government
Submitted by Ramin Edmond on
How much is the growing rate of data usage making security a bigger issue?
For the criminal actors, and by that I mean folks who are interested in theft of content, what the bad guys are after is state data because with that they can begin identity theft. They are clearly after the data, but the states are also dealing with nation states. They are dealing with foreign nation states that are trying to disrupt state government. We have certainly seen that. But these are business that impact elements that are not all that sophisticated. They are using the same tools and techniques and are just successful executing it. In the public sector, the No. 1 cause of data loss is still inadvertent disclosure by employees and contractors, so it's not hacking. It's someone leaving their laptop in a taxi or a plane, or losing their smartphone with state data on it or losing their USB drive somewhere. That is still the predominant cause of loss of data. It's accidental and not malicious.