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Outsourcing And Security Concerns
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-01-18
 Security News RSS Feed
Outsourcing is becoming a way of life for many corporations in the United States. They outsource everything everywhere. One problem with this might just be security. As people call all over the world for customer service for their credit cards or some product in a catalog, how do we know to trust what's at the other end?
Ted Richardson wrote in his blog over the weekend a great post about this very topic. He opened up discussing a story in the BBC about an outsourcing firm being indicted on fraud charges for $400,000 from four Americans. The BBC article by Zubair Ahmed discussed many of the problems in outsourcing the work overseas. Things like hiring standards with false information.
He also points out problems with a lack of integrated security management and bribery issues (which are part of the culture in Southeast Asia). There may be a perception of a lack of security by some criminals and that could lead to more problems. He went on with some other suggestions but in the end, he gets down to he basic concept of accountability by various firms that outsource:
The goal needs to be to protecting people from becoming victims, EVERYWHERE! If we are going to be business partners with these firms, it is imperative; we assist them in bringing their security infrastructures up to par with ours. Otherwise, we expose them as easy targets.
He seems to say corporations should maintain a level of responsibility, in all their dealings, not just under the scrutiny of Sarbanes Oxley. They should do this for both their stockholders and their customers in order to protect them.
In a perfect world, corporations would do this on their own, but sometimes laws are necessary for the good of all.
In fact, it seems to me that the international corporation of the future will need to consider security as more of a "customer service" and "profit protection" entity rather than a necessary evil. In the long run, should they fail to do so, they will lose the trust of their customer (who in the end) is the one who dictates their future.
I agree. The comanies had duty to their stockholders and their customers to protect them from problems of security fraud and other issues. While certain practices are accepted in some cultures, they are not in ours. If these companies wish to do business, then they must uphold standards and practices that will protect those people.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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