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Winning the Consumer Gadget Wars

CSOs will need smart policies, good awareness programs and judicious enforcement to manage risks presented by USB drives, camera phones and other consumer gadgets

First Data has also taken an added step that Mellinger believes insulates the company from many of the problems that these services can let in. The company has separate firewalls protecting each of its business units so that if a virus or breach occurs in one unit it can be easily unplugged from the others to prevent the damage from spreading. "A lot of times a company looks at itself as a monolithic entity," says Mellinger, "and we don't want to put ourselves in a position where anything that makes it into the company can impact the whole company. We use the same security controls between business units that we use between business units and the outside world."

Stay on Top of Trends One key to dealing with all of these developments is for CSOs and their security teams to commit themselves to an ongoing learning process focused on new tools and technologies and the novel ways they will affect corporate security. Companies tend to go overboard with overly draconian security measures when a trend takes them by surprise. "There's a line of sensibility here," says Mellinger. "The object is to stay ahead of the people who aren't doing anything [malicious], who just have no security awareness at all. As long as I can stay ahead of that crowd, I'm in good shape."

Security leaders should also keep in mind that you can't blame it all on the bits and bytes. "This is about synergy and multifunction," says Purdue's Rogers. Recalling the security concerns that e-mail raised when it first came into general usage, he cautions CSOs to remember that, "the technology is neutral. It's not good or bad. It can be used in novel ways. But if we survived e-mail, we'll survive this evolutionary process too."