Scott L. Vernick was quoted in the NJBIZ article, "Why B.Y.O.D. is B.A.D." Full text can be found in the February 3, 2014, issue, but a synopsis is noted below.
Companies are increasingly adopting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies at the office. While such policies can be beneficial in some ways, those in the privacy industry warn that having employees in an increasingly mobile workforce connect to company servers on personal devices can increase the risk of a security breach.
It's not just credit cards that are the target of breaches, warns Scott Vernick, a noted privacy attorney.
"Cyber criminals, out of the Far East in particular, are not interested in personal information," said Vernick. "They are interested in trade secrets. They are interested in industrial espionage."
"That's where data security has to concern everybody, including smaller companies," he noted.
Vernick said companies are aware of the pervasiveness of breaches, but often avoid upgrades that require upfront costs.
"Most businesses are reluctant to spend the dollars necessary," he said. "It's an expensive proposition, but do you want to spend up front, or do you want to spend on the back end, when it becomes a lot more expensive?"
"Unfortunately it often takes a data breach to focus people's attention," Vernick said. "As we tell clients: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Vernick recently spearheaded the creation of Data Breach 411, a free iPhone app released by Fox Rothschild, where he is a partner and serves as head of the Privacy and Data Security Practice. The app helps to navigate the various state laws regarding data breaches and notification requirements.
"What we wanted to do is to put that information at their fingertips," Vernick said.
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