TSA Breach Offers Lesson to Managed Service Providers

Last week's news that the Transportation Security Administration had mistakenly posted an internal document detailing sensitive security policies used by the TSA has caused many in government to re-evaluate their internal IT management and security procedures. While there are greater implications to US national security involved, there is one primary reason why I think this is an important blog and lesson for MSPs and end-user businesses. 

Imagine that the TSA is your business. Now, imagine that the document posted is a secret formula, client list, or something else of value to your company. Intellectual property breaches are serious threats to companies in our Internet age. Electronic document management, data archiving, IT security, and other policies are frequently used in the enterprise but are now becoming the norm for small and medium sized businesses. 

Businesses need to be aware of the serious threats that face them and need to resolve how to defend against such breaches, whether accidental or not. Managed Service Providers has long been helping businesses (of all sizes) come to grips with developing, maintaining, and monitoring, such policies. While the scope of last week's breach is not yet known, what is known is that entities (government and private) need to take data security more seirously in the future.

Small and medium sized businesses reading about last week's breach may be wondering how they can bring enterprise security to their business operation. In many cases, managed services can help. Regardless of whether you use a managed service or not, the importance of bringing your internal IT security policies under control is critical to the long term success and stability of your organization. Just ask the TSA.