BreachExchange mailing list archives
Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches
From: "Eric Nelson" <enelson () secureprivacysolutions com>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 07:30:10 -0700
There are a number of federal laws that do provide civil penalties and responsibility for company executives that do not follow a company's privacy and security policies. Gramm-Leach-Bliley is one example of requiring a company to implement security controls and ongoing compliance assurance. Civil penalties can be levied against both companies and individuals and executives can face possible jail time. In addition, CEO's and other executives already face the significant penalties for non-compliance under Sarbanes Oxley. These penalties are directly related to ensuring that controls and processes are in place. On a side note, yes, prisons are overcrowded, but perhaps spending a few nights with "Bubba" might be a good deterrent..., Eric Nelson Secure Privacy Solutions -----Original Message----- From: dataloss-bounces () attrition org [mailto:dataloss-bounces () attrition org] On Behalf Of Casey, Troy # Atlanta Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 7:09 AM To: dataloss () attrition org Subject: Re: [Dataloss] CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Off the cuff, this seems like a good idea on the surface. The problem is that the personal criminal liability will motivate companies to hide the facts and not disclose data breaches. My personal thought on this is that fines and penalties don't seem to have much of an effect, but that personal legal liability will make CEOs sit up and take notice...there neeeds to be some rationale for the mega-buck paychecks these guys are raking in, and a high level of personal legal risk seems to me a better rationale for today's CEO salaries than some canard like "market performance". If this were enacted, the "skin in the game" on the part of the CEOs might make their huge salaries seem less unfair. It's plain to me that until there is some downside risk to "accepting the risk" of an insecure system, companies will continue to give IT Security short shrift, and I think this is a sensible approach. Several have objected based on some notion that the CEO is "not responsible" for the weak controls, but I disagree. Anyone with military experience will tell you that one can delegate authority, but that one cannot delegate responsibility. The CEO is ultimately responsible for everything the company does. If the CEO were to suddenly start taking security seriously, (s)he would communicate that to the senior staff, and the new culture would trickle down to the IT Directors and others that have more direct oversight of IT security. If the CEO's attitude was 'let's have the best security we can afford', and monies made available in a security 'slush fund' to deal with unexpected security issues, the IT Directors would no longer have to say "no" when asked for the next security technology. Yes, it all ultimately comes back to the CEO and the Board of Directors - their attitude about security becomes the Company's attitude about security. Cheers, Troy Troy D. Casey -----Original Message----- From: dataloss-bounces () attrition org [mailto:dataloss-bounces () attrition org] On Behalf Of security curmudgeon Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 4:33 AM To: dataloss () attrition org Subject: [Dataloss] CEOs deserve jail for data breaches ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org> http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=11924 By John E. Dunn Techworld 08 April 2008 A growing number of security pros believe that the way to stop data breaches from happening is simple as it is stark - send the CEOs or board members deemed responsible to jail. The opinion emerged from a survey by security mainstay Websense at the recent UK e-Crime Congress, which polled 107 security professionals on their opinions. Seventy-nine percent believed that companies should be fined for data breaches . something that does already happen in some cases in the UK . while 59 percent were in favour of compensation for consumers affected by a breach. The most striking view of all was that the time had come to punish serious data breaches with jail time for senior staff, with 25 percent rating that as a necessary step. Only three percent were against any form of legally-enforceable punishment. [..] _______________________________________________ Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () attrition org) http://attrition.org/dataloss Tenable Network Security offers data leakage and compliance monitoring solutions for large and small networks. Scan your network and monitor your traffic to find the data needing protection before it leaks out! http://www.tenablesecurity.com/products/compliance.shtml _______________________________________________ Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () attrition org) http://attrition.org/dataloss Tenable Network Security offers data leakage and compliance monitoring solutions for large and small networks. Scan your network and monitor your traffic to find the data needing protection before it leaks out! http://www.tenablesecurity.com/products/compliance.shtml _______________________________________________ Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () attrition org) http://attrition.org/dataloss Tenable Network Security offers data leakage and compliance monitoring solutions for large and small networks. Scan your network and monitor your traffic to find the data needing protection before it leaks out! http://www.tenablesecurity.com/products/compliance.shtml
Current thread:
- CEOs deserve jail for data breaches security curmudgeon (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Jeff (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches James Ritchie, CISA, QSA (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Allen (Jun 30)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Rich Kulawiec (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Ghercoias, Catalin (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Allan Friedman (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches [LONG] Rich Kulawiec (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Ghercoias, Catalin (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Jeff (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Casey, Troy # Atlanta (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Eric Nelson (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches James Childers (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Eric Nelson (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Mike Simon (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Adam Shostack (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Max Hozven (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Stefan Wahe (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Rich Kulawiec (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches lyger (Apr 09)
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches Adam Shostack (Apr 09)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: CEOs deserve jail for data breaches grexpectations (Apr 09)