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Posted by 1100GS_rider on January 30, 2008, 11:39 am
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> look@www.ai.uga.edu.for.address says...
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/01/fallon_stolen_c.html
> > >
> > > Fallon: stolen computer had members' information
> > > January 24, 2008 05:43 PM
> > >
> > > Fallon Community Health Plan said a laptop computer was stolen
> > > containing personal information for all the members of its Fallon
> > > Senior Medicare Advantage and Summit ElderCare plans. The computer
> > > contained claims data for about 30,000 people, or about 15 percent of
> > > Fallon's overall membership.
> > [Moderator Snip]
> >
> > *Sigh* Why do people put these databases on laptops in the first place?
> > For what possible purpose? Shouldn't that kind of data be on a server?
> >
> >
>
> It's because sometimes you're doing work on developing a new tool or
> what have you and you need the dataset to make it work.
>
> Of course when we did the corporate database where I formerly worked I
> wouldn't let them have actual data. I exported the table structures with
> no data in them and then populated it with dummy data.
That is the only sensible approach. There ought to be huge penalties
for anybody who puts actual identity theft data onto a laptop.
***** Moderator's Note *****
That's not always feasable: the prime directive of computer programming is
the same as the prime law of medicine - "First, do no harm".
In order to make sure that program changes don't break existing code,
a programmer _must_ test his changes against a "corpus" of existing
data, in order to find the (sometimes subtle) interactions which
plague old "spaghetti code" programs and break them in hard-to-find
ways at the worst possible time.
In theory, it's possible to create a corpus of test data that
accurately reflects the larger database. Theory and practice don't
mix well in production environments, and there's never enough time to
maintain test databases properly or to create new test cases for each
program change.
Managers know that theft is a remote possibility, and their bosses ire
at a missed deadline is real, in-your-face, and right now. They
usually make the obvious choice.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
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