Corporate data loss not down to hackers
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The survey, which was commissioned by IT software and services provider Compuware, found that data breaches at companies are caused by staff in 75% of cases, compared to just 1% by outside hackers. Overall, 79% of US companies suffered at least one data breach last year.
"Enterprises must recognise that simply trusting employees will inevitably prove detrimental to their security, their risk postures and their business interests," wrote Perry Carpenter, a research director at Gartner.
"A mixture of tried-and-true security practices, security awareness, and low and high-tech toolsets will provide the most effective and comprehensive defence against the insider threat." Overall, 41% of breaches occurred on mainframes, which raised serious concerns since 80% of the world's data is stored on such systems.
Data Theft and Breaches - A Solution?
These data breaches and thefts are due to a lagging business culture. As CIO, I'm always looking for ways to help my team, business teams, and ad hoc measures of various vendors, contractors and interal team members. A book that is required reading (specific chapters, depending on nature of projects and teams) is "I.T. Wars: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium." It has a great chapter regarding security (among others).
We keep a few copies kicking around - it would be a bit much to expect outside agencies to purchase it on our say-so. But, particularly when entertaining bids for projects, we ask potential solutions partners to review relevant parts of the book, and it ensures that these agencies understand our values and practices.
The author, David Scott, has an interview here that is a great exposure: http://businessforum.com/DScott_02.html
The book came to us as a tip from one of our interns who attended a course at University of Wisconsin, where the book is in use; I like to pass along things that work, in the hope that good ideas continue to make their way to me. I hope you can make use of this info...
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