Securing corporate assets takes on a new urgency

By Michael
March 1, 2013

The rise of big data and cloud computing has put a lot of companies in a bad position. Rapid adoption of technology that corporations didn’t completely understand or need at the time of deployment has caused a plethora of continuity errors, eDiscovery inquiries and compliance problems due to declining data quality, among other issues.

According to a Ponemon Institute study, about half of all global organizations currently put sensitive information in the cloud. Many of these firms seek out vendors that allow them the greatest amount of flexibility and control over their assets, but as the study revealed, many firms are not certain who is actually responsible for the care and management of these file resources. In some parts of the world, up to two-thirds of businesses feel it’s the job of the vendor to protect data, whereas other countries show only one-fourth of IT personnel feel cloud providers should deliver security solutions.

Identifying the real circumstances
The problem is, especially in the United States, the responsibility of protecting corporate information online is the sole responsibility of the owning business. Any breach or damages to corporate integrity will be held against the company that created the documents, not the vendor hosting these resources online. Companies that lack a hard disk management backup to promote continuity may have no viable options for recovering data or repairing damaged files, making a bad situation even worse.

To try and alleviate these concerns, organizations of all kinds are applying enhanced encryption keys to their files. Even if these documents are simply sitting in backup tape management resources, it’s important that these files maintain the same kind of encryption standards in case of a breach. Security Info Watch wrote that a recent study of business practices showed about 40 percent of all companies currently adhere to just such a practice, citing consistency and transparency as the primary reasons for supporting this kind of file maintenance.

“Encryption usage has emerged as a clear indicator of a strong security posture with organizations that deploy encryption being more aware of threats to sensitive and confidential information and making a greater investment in IT security,” said Larry Ponemon, head of the Ponemon Institute. By enacting these kinds of far-reaching protections, the likelihood of a data loss, be it internally sparked or induced by an outside source trying to break into corporate file systems, these documents will always be protected.

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