Game of Thrones Leak Highlights Need For Data Protection

Ankur Laroia, Solutions Strategy Leader, Alfresco SoftwareThe latest HBO hack and the leaked episodes of Game of Thrones shine a spotlight on the need for protecting proprietary data. Having a transparent, open source, enterprise grade platform, with thousands of “white hats” who can help fight the “black hats,” is what will help companies secure their most precious resource – intellectual property.Transparent, open systems by their very nature are hardened to prevent future breaches. For every new encryption or password management point solution enterprises put in place, there are likely hundreds of hackers (many from state actors) figuring out a way to compromise those security countermeasures. Enterprises need more brainpower to stay one step ahead; otherwise, they are just going to experience these breaches over and over again. For example, compared to closed, proprietary, legacy platforms, our company's community includes more than 30,000 developers who actively review, validate, customize and extend our technology to accelerate the pace of security.The HBO hack underscores the inevitable proliferation of digital data and - when left ungoverned - the exposure sustained by enterprises. Studies have shown the next year represent a turning point in the digitization of enterprise content. In fact, Alfresco recently commissioned a Forrester study that found the number of firms with virtually all digital content will shift from 14 percent today, to 50 percent in just two years. The same Forrester report showed that 67 percent of end users have to reference external content every time they onboard new customers or partners, address customer service requests, or manage financial or accounting processes. Scattered content, whether it’s saved in Dropbox vs. on-premises or some other non-integrated solution, poses a major security risk.In today’s digital age, Information Stewardship is a shared responsibility across both business and IT. The ability to inventory, identify and curate vital, mission-critical assets is a shared mandate between the office of the CIO, CISO and the business. Data breaches are going to become the “new normal,” unless companies embrace the power of open thinking and a new pragmatic, approach to security. Every business, not just media properties, must now contend with the interplay between making information instantly accessible and keeping it secure.[author]About the Author: Ankur Laroia is the Solutions Strategy Leader at Alfresco, where he heads, guides and directs the application of the latest Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Orchestration technologies and frameworks. Laroia is a recognized thought leader and expert in the disciplines of business transformation and information technology (IT) strategy. He has advised many of the Global 2000 with regards to Enterprise Information & Content Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Enterprise Application Integration strategies and business architectures.[/author]