Government agencies and industry organizations alike are embracing the cultural shift toward a mobile workforce. However, managers often point to mobile workers as a data security scapegoat.

By Patrick McGregor, CEO, BitArmor, and Pate Dane, CEO, MyPublicInfo

Hurtling into our annual Reboot edition, I became conscious of the break-neck speed at which 2007 has come to its end.

Poor implementation planning and a lack of real understanding of compliance requirements doom many companies to compliance project lifecycles of unrealistic expectations, expensive implementations and disappointment in the results.

The screaming headlines have been running for years. Whether they're in press releases about cybercrime exceeding international drug profits or the billions of dollars lost to breach disclosures or videos highlighting the meltdown of power generators due to a myriad of vulnerabilities, the anti-malware industry has long relied on fear to move their products.

With the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standard garnering significant mainstream attention, retail CEOs and CFOs are now more aware than ever before about the risks associated with credit card security. Retail businesses that fall within the scope of PCI are scrambling to bolster their security and avoid the damaging situations a few unlucky retailers now face.

If youre not a member of a compliance team in higher education, you probably dont think of universities and colleges. With students and faculty now back to school, IT managers at universities are faced with complying with multiple regulations that affect industries beyond just education.

By aggregating information, executives can ease regulatory burdens, says Pravin Kothari.

In a world of ever-increasing information, security requirements and regulations, companies must manage a complex compliance environment that has resulted in a multitude of linked processes. The primary driver of all of these requirements and regulation is the mitigation of risk and the threat of a security breach.

To properly discuss security issues related to multi-function peripheral (MFPs) - devices that copy, print, scan and fax - its helpful to first have some background on the underlying technology in the machines that have raised so much concern as a possible data security risk.