Data governance trends, with expert Gwen Thomas

"Between February 2005 and February 2006, in 130 separate incidents, over 53 million private data records were lost, stolen, hacked, freely given to criminals, or improperly displayed to the public," writes Gwen Thomas, president of the Data Governance Institute, and author of the new book Alpha Males and Data Disasters: The Case for Data Governance. Since then, even more incidents have made the news -- AOL's release of search data, the high-profile Department of Veterans Affairs laptop theft and a host of others. Recently, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse put the new total at more than 330 data loss incidents, involving more than 93 million individual records, since February 2005. Is there any way to prevent this trend of catastrophic breaches?

Effective corporate data governance would be a good start, experts agree. Data governance refers to the overall management of the availability, usability, integrity and security of the data employed in an enterprise. It often has more to do with people, process and politics than with technology tools.

In this exclusive podcast, we talk with Gwen Thomas about new data governance trends and techniques. Listeners will learn how to get started with data governance -- without spending a dime on software or consultants. Thomas will offer words of advice to people having trouble getting their companies to take data governance seriously. And, we'll also ask her to explain what's behind her book's title, Alpha Males and Data Disasters: The Case for Data Governance.

About the featured expert:
Gwen Thomas is the President of The Data Governance Institute and also serves as publisher of the institute's flagship website, SOX-online.com. She has designed successful Data Governance programs for Fortune 500 an

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d smaller organizations. She has also served as a Corporate Knowledge Manager, a teacher of college English classes, and editor of a literary magazine. To learn more, email Gwen at gwen.thomas@datagovernance.com. She has just published a new book, Alpha Males and Data Disasters: The Case for Data Governance, available through the Data Governance Institute web site.

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Data governance helps companies comply with regulatory requirements and avoid costly data breaches -- but it's easier said than done. Learn data governance trends and techniques.

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• Gearing up for the data security culture shift: Experts say securing sensitive data isn't a working habit for many employees. Forget documented data policies. When auditors (or hackers) dig deeper -- what will they really find?

• Building a data governance structure : SearchDataManagement's Data governance expert Craig Mullins outlines the qualities of an effective data steward.

• Seven master data management best practices: Master data management's early adopters share best practices and potential pitfalls.

• Managing rogue data: Most companies are permeated with "rogue data," the type of data that is often difficult to find, and can be even harder to manage. In this tip, Alex Kerezy shares some solutions to the problem.

• Special report: Data Quality SearchDataManagement.com has compiled a collection of articles, tips and expert advice to expand your knowledge of data quality. Test your knowledge in a data quality quiz!

• SearchDataManagement.com glossary: Our editors have gathered definitions from sister site Whatis.com, so you can quickly look up a new term or refresh your memory about an old one.