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Privacy and security: a balancing act

Joanne Carew
By Joanne Carew, ITWeb Cape-based contributor.
Amsterdam, 30 Oct 2013
When misaligned, privacy and security become opposing forces, says RSA's Art Coviello.
When misaligned, privacy and security become opposing forces, says RSA's Art Coviello.

Privacy serves as a complication in the security industry's efforts to make progress.

This was the word from Art Coviello, executive chairman of RSA, the security division of EMC, at the annual RSA Europe Conference in Amsterdam yesterday.

There are legitimate privacy concerns when one talks about network monitoring, Coviello said, pointing out that an imbalance between privacy and security can be dangerous.

According to Coviello, there is a need to protect the customer's privacy without violating the worker's privacy, stressing that security and privacy cannot be pitted against each other.

He likened security and privacy to the two poles of a magnet - when misaligned, they become opposing forces. "When aligned, they form a powerful bond," he said, adding that if we want security and privacy, we have to align the two in an environment that can be trusted.

When sophisticated security tools are implemented objectively, dispassionately and with strong governance, privacy is possible, said Coviello. "This is the only way that privacy is still relevant today given the open, connected nature of our shared digital world," he added.

"We don't want to create big brother, which would stifle and, ultimately, kill innovation. We must create a balance."

Anonymity is the enemy of privacy, he said. "An anonymous network gives free rein to our enemies so that they can access and use our private data with no risk of discovery." According to Coviello, this conundrum is a balancing act between transparency, governance and technology.

If we can strike that balance between the application of intelligence-driven security, wrapped in transparency and good governance, we will have a free and responsible flow of information, which is what we all want, he noted.

If we do not learn from history and integrate security and privacy, we will repeat the mistakes we made in the past. "Without a balance between security and privacy, we will choke off the flow of critical information and be at the mercy of criminals."

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