The IT Governance Institute (ITGI) has released a downloadable publication to help executives prevent data loss resulting from viruses, hacks, or theft. The paper, aimed at senior executives, offers a host of questions that senior executives need to ask about their company's IT security.

Sample questions include: How much is being spent on information security? What projects were undertaken in the past year to improve security? And specifically what information assets are subject to laws and regulations?

The paper, Senior Executives Information Security Survival Kit, also provides recommendations that include actions such as ensuring that a clear, pragmatic enterprise-and-technology continuity program is tested and up to date.

This two-page guide is extracted from ITGI's COBIT Security Baseline. COBIT, or Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology, is a set of guidelines that regulate an organization's IT governance and control network. The baseline gives 39 steps leading to strong information security, from defining a strategic IT plan to obtaining external review of the program.seniorexecutive_tech0405_0.pdf