Security Issues Caused By External Hosting
Deutsche Lufthansa leaks personal data
Thomas has a nice example of how Deutsche Lufthansa has leaked personal data through an entertainment site operated by an external agency.
Most companies have strict rules for handling personal data and installed security policies for secure handling of sensitive information. Therefore enterprise data centers are usually quite secure. However the corporate processes that are required to keep the standards high are slow and expensive. This causes some companies to skip them in favor of faster and cheaper alternatives.
One solution is to accept hosting offers by the agencies that build the sites. The problem is that they are seldomly capable of providing a secure environment. It's just not their business. The result is that sites with sensitive data are operated in shared hosting environments by unskilled persons out of control of corporate IT. It's only a matter of time until security issues pop up and companies can be glad if they are informed before any data is stolen.
It just doesn't make sense to harden the front door if you open up a few back doors at the same time. The best security policies are worthless if companies are willing to bypass them for faster and cheaper alternatives. Maybe Thomas' story will help showing the value of corporate IT to those seeking alternatives without looking at the consequences.