Research highlights continuing data loss fears

Technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) firms feel they are ill-prepared for the security threats facing them in the coming year, according to new research from consultancy Deloitte released this week.

The report looked at TMT firms globally and found that only 38 per cent felt they had "all the skills and capabilities they need to respond effectively and efficiently to security challenges".

In addition, only five per cent of companies increased their security investment by 15 per cent or more, and half allocated less than three per cent of their IT budget to security, the report found.

“One of the most alarming results of the survey is attitudes towards customer data," said Deloitte technology partner, James Alexander. "Only 53 per cent of companies publicly disclose the loss of customer data, and many only do so in situations where disclosure is required by law. The risk of data loss is not going to go away and the potential impact to brand is huge."

In related news, private enterprises are still at risk from data loss or theft because of employee negligence leading to laptop losses, according to new research from data protection and asset management software vendor Absolute Software.

The survey found that nearly 60 per cent of firms reported laptop thefts in the last 12 months. Nearly half said data was threatened by employee negligence, but 80 percent said they only used traditional software asset management tools as a means of protecting their machines if stolen.

Such tools are ineffective at protecting data once the device has been stolen, according to Absolute's senior director of international relations, William Pound. In addition, 43 percent of those who had already suffered a breach estimated the cost to be between £10,000 and £100,000, while 14 percent said it cost them over £500,000.

"This is almost counter-intuitive; people know they are at risk and have experienced laptop losses but we're not seeing an uptake in security implementation," said Pound. "It shows that everyone's at risk, but not everyone knows how best to secure mobility."

See also:

New data loss risk for app testers

Compuware research shows firms are exposing customer data during application testing  08 Jan 2008

Infosecurity teams still isolated

New research from Ernst & Young finds many security teams are still struggling to integrate with the business  10 Dec 2007

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