Snowden's Case Summary

The two most damaging leaks of classified and defense information are a contrast of each other, both forced many information security changes within the US Government. As Manning’s case failed to provide indicators and highlighted insufficient security measures dating back to 2010. Snowden’s case provided indicator of possible insider threat activity and Snowden had to bypass security protocols to acquire the information. Both cases resulted in changes to some physical security changes but many changes and improvements in information security protocols and procedures. The Department of Defense no longer allows the use of thumb drives on individual workstations (Toxen, 2014). The IT Security specialist have either locked down the USB drives on workstations or are immediately notified if something is plugged into one. The same alerts and protocols exist for the ability to copy and burn CD-ROMs from systems that process classified information (Toxen, 2014). The security protocols for those select few that have the ability to download to removable media is now tightly enforced. Procedures mandate the creation of system logs and it may be necessary to have two- person integrity to verify the information on the media (Toxen, 2014). During Manning’s time, the Personnel Security Clearance backlog was astounding and a typical investigation took 189 days to complete. By 2012, a typical investigation took only 44 days to complete as the government moved to
Some of these changes were costly and out of the realm of possibility for small businesses. However, many of the changes all business can easily apply to their organizations. With a defense in depth approach against insider threats, businesses can apply measures to protect their data and