data loss

data loss

1. Employee negligence puts an organization at risk.

   • the top reasons for cited for data loss were SMB employees tendency to open attachments to or click links embedded in spam, to leave their systems unattended, to not frently change their passwords and visit restricted sights.
     • 77% os employees leave their computers unattended.

2. most SMB's don't have enough space to protect their data.

   • Most SMBs also doubt their organizations’ capability to thwart advanced persistent threats (APTs) or hack attacks,5 especially since detection or discovery of data breaches among SMBs mostly occurs accidentally.
     • security infrastructure against hackers or malicious insiders attempting to steal data. This effort may require focusing on data-centric security for confidential information, which entails relying on not only traditional outside-in protection but also on protection from the inside-out.6

3. Employee mobility may prove disastrous

   • Research shows that 56% of employees very frequently or frequently stored sensitive data on their laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. This means there is more than a 50% chance that confidential information can land in the wrong hands should they lose these devices.
     • The Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) Era is here to stay. As more and more business data is stored in or accessed by devices that are not fully controlled by IT administrators, the likelihood of data loss incidents caused by improperly secured personal devices will continue to rise.

4. SMBs fail to routinely back up data.

   • Less than 50% of SMBs routinely back up data. This, along with risky employee behaviors, the BYOD trend, lack of adequate security protection, and various other threats to data, is putting them at great risk.
     • Without an automated backup and recovery strategy in place, SMBs have very little ammunition should a disaster strike. In fact, according to another Ponemon Institute study, 62% of SMBs were not confident of avoiding substantial downtime in the event of a serious incident.8 About a third of U.S. companies also had no backup and disaster recovery strategies in place, citing lack of budget and resources as primary reasons. 8

5. SMBs do not enforce data security policies.

   • SMBs run the risk of losing data, employee productivity, revenue, and their reputation with the exponentially increasing number of data breaches. While technologies are important in data protection, properly managing the “human factor” will also help prevent your organization from becoming a data breach victim.
     • SMBs should ensure data protection policies are put in place, communicated to employees, insiders and customers, and strictly implemented. In fact, 80% of organizations, regardless of size, believe managing and monitoring end-user privileges and entitlements is the most important security measure against data breaches.