The dripping irony of the financial Crisis is continuing. Amidst ravaged landscape of laid off workers, dismissed disgruntled employees, and dismembered data security teams we find Data Security declining - more exploits, less resources in form of both budget and people to deal with the issues.

  Seems like a Choicepoint perfect storm, intellectual property is roaming in the wild in the heads and cell phones of dismissed employees. It’s too late to work on that to-do list of Data Leak Protection items the day after 100s of employees are sent packing - some with the 8gb USB keys and synced personal cell phone.

   It still astonishes me that enterprise treat security as an afterthought, and find themselves playing catch up after the incident rather then preparing prior. A data back-up  always sounds like a good idea the day your hard drive fails, while the day before it sounds like a pain in the butt.

   Everyone Information security person still employed at a large institution should be in overdrive trying to get protections in place for the next R-Day (Reduction In Force Day ). If nothing else, and given you have no budget, you should run a test group of a free tool like Truecrypt - or evaluate one of the Data at Rest vendors, so when you are able to beg for some budget you can get a program rolled out quickly.

   Everyone in INFOSEC needs to be in overdrive mode during this economic quagmire, need I remind you what the Stones say “Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners, Saints” - in this time of despiration people will do things that they woudl not usually do. Your security controls are more important now then ever.