Companies Still Haven't Learnt the Lessons About Data Security
22nd April 2009
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In the last few years, the news has been filled with stories of
companies losing data and Databarracks' latest data security survey
shows that a large proportion of businesses still haven't learnt
valuable lessons about data security.
Since 2005 there have been some 1034 reported incidents
involving the loss of data; affecting a staggering 280 million
people. The seemingly endless high profile reports of data loss
included H.M. Revenue and Customs, HSBC, the MOD, amongst many
others. In 2008 alone there were an unprecedented amount of backup
tapes which were stolen or lost in transit; GE Money, Bristol-Myers
Squibb and Bank of New York were amongst those companies who lost
data from backup tapes.
Databarracks' backup and data security survey assesses the data
security, backup and IT Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
plans of over 1,000 businesses each year. The latest survey report,
released in April 2009, paints a picture of businesses being
careless with valuable and confidential data which is being removed
from businesses premises.
Of the 1,000+ companies which were surveyed, 50% still admitted
to not encrypting the data backed up from their systems.
Worryingly, 36% of companies also admitted that, although their
backups are taken offsite, this is done by a member of staff who
takes them home. In 2007 a report from Ohio said that a 22 year old
had a tape stolen from his car containing the personal details of
some 800,000 Ohio taxpayers and state employees. The information
contained social security numbers and personal information.
Peter Groucutt, Managing Director of Databarracks said "In the
past few years, we have been seeing more and more examples of data
going missing whilst in transit. When we analysed the results of
the latest backup survey, we expected to see the number of backups
that were written to tapes and then transported in an un-encrypted
format to have plummeted; instead it appears as if companies are
still not learning the lessons of past failures."
The backup survey, also highlighted how companies still find the
protection of data from laptops a real problem, with 22% of
respondents saying they find that laptop computers present a
challenge to protect. Also according to the survey, most of the
data that companies lost last year involved a human factor with 26%
of data made irretrievable because of human accidents, while 7% was
caused by malicious interference (either theft or deliberate
deletion).
While 20% of companies had taken up some kind of automated
offsite service, either managed or un-managed, the survey
highlighted the amount of companies who were still worried about
their levels of compliance with data protection laws, with 41% of
those surveyed admitting to be either not compliant or worried that
they were not compliant with forceful regulations.
"With 40% of the companies saying that they protect over 1TB of
data and 12% protecting over 100TB it is clear that the issues
surrounding data protection and data loss are not going to diminish
any time soon and in fact, unless companies take their heads out of
the sand, the old adage of 'if not when' will make many more
victims in the future." said Databarracks.
About The Survey
The Data Health Check Survey is the largest and most
comprehensive survey in the industry focused purely on backup and
recovery technologies and practices. Participants are invited to
submit their answers online over the course of the year with
partial and final results published in the second and last quarter
of each year.
In coming years, the survey will be measured against previous
results to reveal the trends within data security and storage
technologies and solutions used by UK businesses.
A full report can be downloaded at http://www.databarracks.com/datahealthcheck/results/