Notebooks with secret government information simply go missing, hard disks with sensitive company information end up undeleted at a garage sale - news about confidential information which got into the wrong hands unencrypted and inadvertently, are making the headlines every month. Last week an eBay user purchased by auction a hard disk with internal alarm plans and name lists from a crisis management group. The Ministry of the Interior of the German federal state of Brandenburg is still puzzling over how this could have happened.
In March, a pilferer took a notebook with him from the administration office of a Californian university. In no time at all, he had access to not only the useful hardware but also to the identity data of almost 100 000 patrons, alumni and students, including social security numbers and other personal information. Those affected are still afraid that the thief may use the data for his own purposes.
In the US, 1.2 million participants of the American government`s Smartpay programme were worried that their accounts might have been emptied. Backup tapes got lost on their way to the data processing centre. The speaker for the bank concerned expressed "deep regret".
Biodata IT, local distributor of Utimaco SafeGuard products, can offer a simple but very effective solution: easy and transparent encryption of all relevant data. The leading manufacturer of mobile device security solutions Utimaco Safeware of Germany guarantees comprehensive and permanent protection of data through using modern encryption algorithms considered very secure by experts. Its product SafeGuard Easy transparently encrypts the entire contents on a hard disk. An unauthorised user of such a protected notebook will only see scrambled data when files are opened. The same can be implemented for PDAs or smartphones.
Should a secured laptop or PDA fall into the wrong hands through negligence or theft, at least the data remains forever unreadable. Although the device has been lost, the damage is limited.
Further information about solutions for mobile device security and other Utimaco products are available at http://www.biodata.co.za.
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Utimaco Safeware AG is the leading European producer of professional IT security solutions. The security technology and solutions developed by Utimaco protect the electronic data of companies and government bodies against unauthorised access and guarantee that business processes and administrative procedures in the electronic world are binding and confidential.
Utimaco`s Transaction Security division specialises in security solutions for e-business, e-government and e-payment based on its own technologies (hardware security modules, gateways for e-mail security, authentication and digital signatures, PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), and PKA (Public Key-enabled Applications).
Biodata IT
Biodata IT South Africa (Pty) Ltd is a distributor of a wide range of best-of-breed IT security solutions. Highly specialised and experienced staff as well as a network of skilled channel partners are dedicated to protect and to add value to your IT infrastructure. The client base of Biodata IT South Africa (Pty) Ltd comprises over 200 leading organisations in the financial, healthcare, government and industrial sector based in countries of the Sub-Saharan Africa.
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