A new study has concluded that most people choose passwords that are far too short to be totally secure against brute force attacks from criminals. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are recommending that 12 characters becomes the standard length to ensure protection. This conclusion has been reached as a result of a hacking [...]

The organisation responsible for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) has begun the process of analysing and updating the rules that aim to protect the private details of millions of consumers and businesses around the world. The PCI Security Standards Council announced that it would be reviewing the current standards and making [...]

The Information Security Forum (ISF) has outlined the challenging new world in which data protection must function as part of a study which identified that end user environments are becoming ever more labyrinthine and disparate. Although there is a general move towards greater understanding of technology amidst staff within both the public and private sectors, [...]

A leading EU commissioner has called for member states to look into standardising legislation relating to data protection and security to facilitate the flow of information between businesses and organisations in protecting the private data of European citizens. Viviane Reding, who champions justice, rights and citizenship at the EU, said that it would be better [...]

Experts have analysed how the government’s role in the protection of private data has changed and whether or not it should increase or reduce the level of its involvement in the prevention of data loss and subsequent censure. 74 per cent of UK staff believe that the government should be responsible for increasing general levels [...]

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a guide which is accessible online in order to define the rules that businesses and organisations should follow to ensure that data is properly protected. Although the Personal Information Online Code of Practice is largely aimed at businesses, it also contains information that is useful for consumers who [...]

Lord McNally, the UK’s justice minister, is seeking confirmation that the changes that are set to be made to the data protection legislation forged by the European Union are progressive and effective. The purpose of this investigation is to help formulate arguments that can be put by representatives in the UK during the reassessment of [...]

The private data of millions of people in the UK is inadequately protected and the government needs to do more in order to ensure that its integrity is not compromised, according to a new report from the European Commission (EC). The EC has said that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) still lacks the powers that [...]

A new study has discovered that the majority of those working with USB sticks in order to transfer and store data do not properly secure these portable devices using encryption. The study was not carried out over a general, mixed discipline selection of employees, but rather it focused specifically on IT security professionals, which makes [...]

The adequacy of laws protecting the privacy of data in the UK have been brought into question by experts at a conference, with the implication being that other European nations have tougher regulations and better levels of data privacy. The exponential and perpetual increase in the volume of private data being stored by businesses and [...]