BitArmor CEO to Speak on Data Encryption
at Retail Industry Conference

Industry expert cites multi-million dollar costs of data breaches; notes that data security must begin “at the card swipe”

BOSTON, June 4, 2007 — An industry expert on data encryption will share his insights on how new technology can help prevent data security breaches, an increasingly important topic, at a conference for professionals in the retail industry to be held in Boston this week.

Patrick McGregor, President and Chief Executive Officer at BitArmor Systems™, will take part in a panel discussion on retail security at the ERI eXchange conference, being held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center today through Thursday. McGregor will join speakers from other industry-leading firms such as Microsoft, Cybertrust, and the PCI Security Vendor Alliance in discussing the constantly changing environment for retail data security.

“Retailers today are struggling with security. If it’s not new break-in techniques from overseas cyber thieves, CFOs who legitimately can’t see the ROI of security investments, it’s consumers who continue to shop at retailers that the consumers themselves believe has horrible security. PCI enforcement is inconsistent and fraught with conflicts of interest and the states are making new laws that are also contradictory,” said Evan Schuman, Editor of retail technology blog StorefrontBacktalk.com. “To try and suggest a path out of this hell for retail IT managers, we’ve brought together a series of security experts in each of the most troublesome areas. One of the important areas is encryption. How should keys be protected? How does one minimize or eliminate that instant between card-swipe and encryption? Patrick McGregor has a handle on encryption that few have.”

McGregor, who spoke last week at the Storage Network Industry Alliance’s Security Summit in Pittsburgh, notes that even a single data breach can cost companies millions of dollars in remediation charges and legal fees. “Companies that are not actively implementing enterprise-wide policies to protect their data assets are risking their financial well-being. Retailers, in particular, should comprehensively encrypt and track cardholder information. To truly protect sensitive data, they must treat data security as an integral part of data management.”

Introduced last year, BitArmor Security Suite is a next-generation data security software solution that enables retailers to protect sensitive cardholder data at every stage of its lifecycle, from initial data capture at point-of-sale (POS) terminals until it is ultimately deleted. By doing so, BitArmor helps them and other companies comply with legislative and industry data security regulations.

About BitArmor Systems
BitArmor Systems offers a next-generation enterprise encryption and data lifecycle management solution that can efficiently protect and encrypt any data in flight over any network and stored on any media. With BitArmor technologies, enterprises of all sizes can comprehensively protect sensitive data, manage the entire data lifecycle, and greatly reduce security management costs and complexities.

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