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Infinite Switching Costs: When Market Forces Fail

Rich September 5, 2007 4 Comments

Just a day after I talked about how it takes sustained failures for consumers to leave a company and go to a competitor, we have an example where switching isn’t really an option. Over at Dark Reading we learn that Phizer has suffered it’s third employee privacy breach in a row. At least they’re doing the “right” thing by involving law enforcement and offering credit monitoring. I suspect, since these made the press, they’re also improving security. That said, you have to feel for the employees who don’t have much of a choice to go anywhere “more” secure. Actually, neither do you. The last time my info was breached was at the student healthcare center at the University of Colorado. My SSN was stolen out of old records. How about you? I suspect every one of you has personal data sitting around old healthcare providers, never mind financial institutions, retail stores, government databases, old utilities providers, and subscriptions to “those” services under fake names, still billed to your real credit card. You no longer have a relationship with these providers (or one you can’t sever), yet they still represent a real risk to your security. Market forces can’t fix this one. Share:

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Co-Hosting The Network Security Podcast

Rich September 5, 2007 No Comments

Back when I started this blog one of the only security blogs I knew about was Martin McKeay’s Network Security Blog. As can happen in the blogging community, Martin and I eventually got in touch and developed a friendship. Heck, anyone I’ve gone drinking with in 3 different cities in less than a year is definitely a friend. With my return to blogging last week Martin invited me to join him on his podcast- as a guest host, not a guest. You can check it out here, or subscribe through iTunes. This week was mostly an introduction and our first attempt at joint podcasting. We spend a little time talking about point of sale terminal security, and a bit more time talking about the value of a CISSP certification (Martin changed my opinion a bit while we were recording). I have a short introduction on communicating with executives, and the podcast finishes up with an interview Martin did with Winn Schwartau. We’re planning on doing more of these, so please send your feedback. We know this week clocks in a little long, and we already have some ideas to improve the format. Check it out here: Network Security Podcast, Episode 75 Share:

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