Perspective: Uncle Sam´s Half Step to Protect Laptop Data

Reprinted with permission from CNET News

Enough already!

We are understandably tired of hearing about the potential compromise of personal information contained on lost government laptop computers. Indeed, in the past couple of months alone, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Trade Commission have grappled with laptops that have gone missing that contained large amounts of private data.

Reacting to what could become a crisis, the Executive Office of the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has issued new security guidelines to address and compensate for the lack of physical security controls when information is removed from or accessed from outside of federal department and agency locations.