David Beckham, the World Cup, Data Security, SaaS and Me

David Beckham, the World Cup, Data Security, SaaS and Me

You would have thought by now South Africa had World Cup security covered, especially after the police force took over stewarding duties while staff went on strike in protest against under-payment of their wages. Nevertheless last Friday night after the game against Algeria, a random and unauthorised fan still managed to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the England squad's dressing room. He walked in and came face to face with an astounded David Beckham, just minutes after Princes William and Harry had left the building.Pavlos Joseph, 32, claims to have strayed into the dressing room accidentally after wandering haplessly around the stadium in search of a toilet. Speaking at an FA reception in Johannesburg on Saturday, Beckham played down the incident, saying it had been "blown out of all proportion... there was no scuffle, there was no aggression at all.". Apparently security was rather more in evidence the following day, however, when the fan attended a 10-minute hearing in court, surrounded by 14 armed police officers, to be charged with the offence of trespass.In another remarkable breach of security at the same match, 11 totally talentless, unqualified, incompetent and uncoordinated hooligans somehow managed to gain access to the pitch itself where they shambled around aimlessly and ineffectually, completely unchallenged, for the full 90 minutes. Oh no, got that one wrong, that was in fact the official England football team...What point am I trying to make here and what the heck has all this got to do with IT, SaaS and security issues? Believe it or not they are related, and I am getting round to my point. My argument is that breaches of security tend to occur when and where you least expect them to. So you are aware of the risks, you have your own company server, data network and password-protected security system in place, but there is no room for complacency. Are you sure that your computer network is the safest place to store your company's valuable, irreplaceable confidential data?To give you an analogy: the 11 players stumbling haphazardly around the Cape Town football pitch on Friday evening probably did not intend to maliciously damage England's reputation, but nevertheless managed to cause havoc and incur the wrath and derision of their erstwhile loyal supporters. Damage is not always caused by an attack from outside; inadvertent bumbling incompetence and good old human error can be just as destructive and dangerous as a full-on cyber attack.Have you considered using a SaaS system? Entrusting your valuable documents to an outside agency might on the surface of it seem like a risky move. Storing data in the clouds sounds like an even more alarming option. Actually it is a whole lot less vulnerable than using your own network, especially if you habitually use devices such as data sticks, CDs and laptops, which have a disconcerting habit of getting left on the train, lost, or stolen from cars and offices, as MI5 and the British Government now know to their cost.Switch to a really good SaaS provider and you will be able to access your files and folders from anywhere in the world, 24/7, in complete security. No need to carry CDs and data sticks around with you any more, no need to mess about emailing attachments to remote locations, colleagues and clients, as data sharing and collaboration is built into the system. No need to worry about backing up your files, as a reputable SaaS provider will do it all for you. Even better, the best systems come complete with their own user and group access controls, making it easy for you to control and restrict access to documents and folders.Football, security and SaaS, three words that don't often get put together in a single sentence. This was the challenge given to me last week by my boss, who decreed I should use the Football World cup as the theme and inspiration for my next article on the subject of Cloud Computing. I am ignoring the fact that he did this mischievously, knowing full well that I am not the biggest fan of football... Sorry I didn't participate in your World Cup predictions office competition boss, nothing personal. Just an unfortunate and unappealing fusion of football and spreadsheet, both of which I try and avoid as much as humanly possible, for someone who works in the IT industry, in the middle of a World cup competition. I make the score so far Charlotte Mooney 1: Steve Skinner 0.

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