Room for improvement

Building confidence in data security:

Faltering confidence in data security:
Only 29% of organizations are very confident in the data security measures they have in place. The remainder admit there is room for improvement. The compliance-driven financial services sector is the  most  confident.  There  are a range  of  measures  that can boost  confidence  in  data  security.
These include better user awareness; advanced data, cloud and end-point security tools; and the ability to co-ordinate policy and incident response.

The power of knowledge :
There is room for improvement in knowledge about data security at all levels, including in the IT security  team  itself.  Organizations  with  management  and  employees  that  are  considered knowledgeable about security are three or four times more likely to say they are ‘very confident’ about data security than their less knowledgeable counterparts.

Deploy advanced security tools :
Organizations  that  implement  advanced  data  protection  tools, such  as  data  loss/leak prevention (DLP), are more than three times as likely to say they are ‘very confident’ about data security than those without them. The same is true of cloud security measures, such as the use of secure proxies and  user/device  profiling.  Mobile  device  management  (MDM)  and  other  end-point  security
measures double the numbers saying they are ‘very confident’.

Co-ordinate security policy and incident response :
Those organizations that have a strong capability to co-ordinate defenses against criminal hackers are  three  times  as  likely  to  report  that they are ‘very confident’ about  data  security  than  those with  a  more  fragmented  approach.  Co-ordinated  defense  against  the insider  threat  doubles  the
numbers.  Co-ordination  is  achieved  through  centralized  policy  management  and  integration  and rationalization of security tools.

Cumulative benefits :
Assigning a composite security score based on user knowledge levels, deployment of tools and the ability  to  co-ordinate shows  the  cumulative  effect  of  these measures.  63%  of  those  with  a  ‘very high’ score say they are ‘very confident’ about data security; none of them say they are ‘not that
confident’. 30% of those with a ‘very low’ score are ‘not that confident’ in their data security. None of them are ‘very confident’.

Conclusions :
Being  able  to  safely  share  data  online  within  and  beyond  your organization is  a  necessary  part  of  participating  in modern  day business processes. This requires multiple layers of data security to be in place, providing the confidence to transact and share data safely and compliantly.