Sanjay Goel: “We Must Rethink Our Approach to Data Security”

Sanjay Goel, of the Department of Information Technology Management.

ALBANY. N.Y. (May 5, 2016) — The leaks of U.S. diplomatic cables, federal government agencies, CIA documents, and most recently the client files of a global Panamanian-based law firm have created political turmoil on an international level.

“Businesses and government agencies have spent much of the last two decades attempting to integrate disparate databases and information systems, seeking to improve efficiency,” says cybersecurity expert Sanjay Goel, UAlbany associate professor of Information Technology Management.

“But that sort of consolidation is disastrous from a security point of view.”

Goel writes this blunt analysis in the May 4 edition of The Conversation - US, a not-for-profit media outlet. But, while Goel asserts that building a cybersecurity wall around an agency or company’s organizations is “useless,” the remedy to cyber-attacks lies with tightening controls from within.

“The goal should not be preventing the unpreventable, but rather detecting incidents quickly, and minimizing the resulting harm,” he writes. He goes on to name five “significant steps” that companies and agencies can take to foster timely detection and at least limit the compromise of date.

Read the full piece here: “Panama Papers revelation: we must rethink data security systems.”

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