RE: Working Remotely (was: White Paper Editing & Standards Setting)

["Diana Ost" <Diana -dot- Ost -at- msmcorp -dot- com>]

The person who took the CD home was not supposed to do that, as
confidential data is not supposed to leave the building at any point.
It's not usually kept on laptops either, which is why it was on a CD. 

The VA does have rules about laptop control and security, using strong
passwords, etc., at least when I worked there (as a subcontractor)
several years ago. We were beginning to encrypt the hard drives on the
laptops when I left. 

It was a bone-headed decision on the part of one person, basically. Most
people at the VA (gov't employees and contractors) care *very much*
about protecting veterans' data.  


Diana Ost
Technical Writer/Reporting Analyst
Production Administration
Market Street Mortgage Corporation
diana -dot- ost -at- msmcorp -dot- com
Phone (727) 431-7209
Fax     (727) 724-9096
2650 McCormick Drive, Suite 200
Clearwater, Florida  33759
 
 
 
 

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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+diana -dot- ost=msmcorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+diana -dot- ost=msmcorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Susan W. Gallagher
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 3:48 PM
To: j-m -at- creativeoptions -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Working Remotely (was: White Paper Editing & Standards
Setting)

IMO, the employees were not appropriately equiped to work remotely, and
that's what caused the problem. I have no idea why the employees were
allowed to bring a CD full of confidential data home with them, but if
they had been supplied with a secure VPN connection to their main data
store, the data compromise would not have happened (unless, of course,
the employee had his password stuck to the laptop, but that's a
different can of worms).

I don't see this affecting my team at all. We all have a secure VPN
connection that's set up and managed by IT, and we don't work with
sensitive personal data -- only source code and software builds.

My two cents. YMMV
-Sue Gallagher

---- j-m -at- creativeoptions -dot- com wrote: 
>  
> I would be interested in any professional observations regarding all 
> the flack about the VA's information being compromised and their stand

> on laptops/remote workers. Has anyone heard of how we might address 
> these issues?
> 
> I'm guessing that this is going to tighten the screws on those of us 
> who are trying to work remotely?
> Is working remotely a dead horse for technical writers? 
> 
> Joan-Marie Moss

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