The latest technological advances have made the world a global village and allow communication at the speed of thought. Using the Internet, vital personal, official, or financial data can be shared or transferred across the globe within seconds. This has not only changed the very social, political, and economic fabric of countries, but has brought people closer as never before. Yet the picture is not all rosy. The hackers are not lagging behind, and they too have devised all possible ways conceivable to breach the security involved with the transmission of data. Given this scenario, maintaining the security of data is a major challenge for the IT experts.

The aim is not data transmission, but secure data transmission. The danger is not only from hackers alone. Unintended lapses on the part of employees can also be a cause of worry. There are many reasons for the leakage of data. Firstly, the employees may not be adequately trained in the techniques of data transmission. Also, technologies are constantly being upgraded. This means that training employees for handling data transmission should be a continuous process. This can be done by holding in-house orientation programs. These can be in the form of classroom teaching or e-learning programs. Classroom teaching programs have their limitations because they are expensive. The e-teaching method is cheaper, allows greater flexibility, and reaches a large number of learners from a centralized location.

Also, awareness and alertness can go a long way in ensuring that these mistakes are minimized. In fact, a recent survey conducted Ernest and Young in 2004 holds the users