Re: Fwd: Why suing auditors won't solve the data breach epidemic

[Barry Fawthrop <barry () isscp com>]

To All,

I would agree that suing them is *not* the answer, that is only going to force auditor/audit companies
to raise rates and thus make auditing more expensive and thus the first thing dropped by companies
in a tight economy.

I would put forward the suggestion that the Auditors are paid a bonus based on the number of *VALID* findings that they 
put in their report.

As auditors we need to start reporting the below average incidents as average, and list more valid findings.
But I must stress *VALID* findings, not just insignificant or trivial.

Too often we overlook items and decide not to report them when they should have.

my 2c

Barry Fawthrop BSc CISSP, CISA, GCIH


Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> From the folks at Attrition and the DataLossDB.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>
> Date: Jun 4, 2009 2:23 PM
> Subject: Why suing auditors won't solve the data breach epidemic
> To: dataloss-discuss () datalossdb org, dataloss () datalossdb org
>
>  
> http://www.betanews.com/article/Why-suing-auditors-wont-solve-the-data-breach-epidemic/1244068439?awesm=betane.ws_13&utm_campaign=betanews&utm_content=api&utm_medium=betane.ws-twitter&utm_source=direct-betane.ws
>  or http://preview.tinyurl.com/pahfub
>
>  Why suing auditors won't solve the data breach epidemic
>  Something's got to be done, but this isn't necessarily it.
>  By Angela Gunn | Published June 4, 2009, 10:26 AM
>
>  The life of a security auditor has its high points, of course -- travel,
>  getting paid to break stuff, and more travel -- but there's a lot about
>  that job that doesn't recommend it. You're going into someone else's place
>  of business and trying to figure out what they're doing wrong, so you can
>  write a big report that goes to their bosses? I don't care how personable
>  you are, this isn't on the Dale Carnegie list of How To Win Friends.
>
>  Nor, in a disturbing number of situations, is it on the list of ways to
>  Influence People. Take a pack of security auditors out for a beer
>  sometime. (You will not have to ask twice, and if you get two beers in
>  them they'll tell you about that mid-sized city whose network is
>  end-to-end pwned right now and that international airport that has an
>  ongoing problem with stolen IDs -- no names, of course, but plenty of
>  other detail. After that, you'll want another beer just for yourself.)
>  When they're done scaring you, they'll start trading tales of clients who
>  simply refused to accept a bad audit.
>
>  No one likes to be told that his IT operation has weaknesses, let alone
>  critical-stop problems. Some companies will retain a security firm and,
>  when bad results start coming back, terminate the contract and send
>  everyone home. Some companies will hire a crew and, when they get there,
>  manage to be so disorganized and cranky that the auditors spend half their
>  time attempting to simply get started. And some, presented with a report
>  saying that their company isn't security-compliant, will simply ask that
>  the report be changed.
>
>  [..]
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