The recent dismissing of staff members engaged in data breaches at Vodafone once again highlights the absolute necessity for companies to ensure that data is properly secured says Colin Tankard, Managing Director, Digital Pathways.
“In this instance the data breach was from within the organisation itself, says Tankard. “So often we tend to think of the external bad boys – the teenager in his darkened room! Not the disgruntled employee, the contractor or competitor trying to outbid you to a contract.
“What companies must do is control who has access to data and by what route it is accessed. The important thing is to link only the valid user using the valid application to the data and controlling what they can do with the data i.e. copy, email or delete it etc.
“The struggle many companies have is to apply this to their applications which can be complex and often requires a re-design of the application itself. This is not the case with today’s security technology as we are able to encrypt any form of data, link that encryption to the application and the user, transparently to the application – hence requiring no modifications to the programme or to the users working practice.
“This ensures the data is protected wherever it resides, even when it is backed up or moved off site to a data centre or cloud. Then it is only available to authorised entities who themselves can only use the information in an approved way.
“Data breaches are no longer simply seen as being an irritating misdemeanor but are highly damaging to reputation and costly due to legislation and fines. Flexible and robust data security is no longer restricted to financial data but now covers all personal/private information that is held by every business.
“ In my opinion where we are today is in a situation where many organisations have addressed their security issues individually as the need arises and not holistically as a whole. What is vital is that security solutions are not piecemeal but properly instigated strategies that are able to grow with the ever-changing technology landscape and requirements of organisations.
‘If your companies data security is less than it should be I would recommend you take stock now.”
Source: Joy Moon PR Consultant
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