2 Mar 2012 ~ PCCare247.com PCCare247.com Blog, PC Care 247 Tech Support Redefined

Friday 2 March 2012

Data Loss Disasters: Tackle threats head on before they lead to irreparable damages

Often Data leaks and losses can cause an organization to lose significant amount of money on legal, public relations and brand reputational front. So, every time an organization ends up losing a USB stick, CD-ROM or suffers a data breach, the same old questions are asked and those really being was data transported in an unencrypted or an insecure format? Or at the same time have IT security managers failed to grasp the data leak protection dilemma and developed systems — and what strategies do they really have in place to prevent further data leaks and losses.

Reasons leading to Data Losses
IT Technical Support
There can be many reasons which might end up leading to data losses. But amongst all of them there are a few which would have far reaching consequences than others. Starting with:

  • Unintentional emails

In the present times, it would be very easy to fire off an email in haste to the wrong individuals. Better still, as it is the case such instances end up highlighting multiple procedural and policy failings triggered or further compounded by accidental actions of employees. With better security systems put in place and acting as a safety net, these data errors either wouldn’t have happened or at best their effects might have been mitigated. Yet, at the same security systems could have verified the email addresses of the recipient, recognized the content was sensitive and would have proceeded to enforce the company policy of either blocking the email or automatically encrypting it.

  • Missing USB stick

With many employees choosing to work from their home on an occasional basis and at the same time carrying work home with them on a USB stick is bound to lead to data theft in a big way. With many USB sticks not secured, the data can—and often does end up turning up at the most unexpected places. As it goes secure USB sticks need to be used in those situations where data loss is anything but always something that is bound to happen sooner or later.

  • Rogue employees resorting to stealing of employer’s data

When an employee is allowed uncontrolled access to new data over a lengthy period of time, it is a potential cause for lost business. Although in spite of a range of data security systems in place, there is generally a clear gap in the situation whereby large amounts of sensitive data could be accessed and be copied on to a single workstation at a particular time each week. And as it would be the case, any IT security audit and review system should have the ability to spot such a procedural loophole even in those situations where a security system would be applied on a fit-and-forget basis.

  • Corporate responsibility and Social Media

With an organization having social media security controls in place; replete with staff training and procedures defining staff responsibilities such a situation can be easily avoided, since employees would  be unable to access social media services, except wherein expressly allowed only by relevant IT Technical Support systems.

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