Thursday, June 3, 2010

Breach-Proofing your organization brings many benefits...

Roanoke City Public Schools Surplus computers sold containing 2000 employees’ names and Social Security numbers...  

University of Louisville  A database with the names, social security numbers and other personal information of 708 dialysis patients was accessible via the Internet for more than a year, university officials announced Wednesday morning.

In order to prevent data breaches before they occur requires building a “Breach-Free Culture” within your organization Properly training employees across all areas of your business is a necessary component to breach-proofing your organization.

Another reason to incorporate training into your data breach prevention efforts is that, although cyber-criminals may get the headlines and media attention, the fact is that more than 88% of all breaches are caused by human error and process failures. Technology can't stop someone from making mistakes, however, training that changes behavior can!

Breach-Proofing your organization brings many benefits. We've all seen the statistics... Data breaches cost an average of $202 per record lost... 40% of consumers change their relationship with affected businesses... fines for non-compliance with the law can run into tens of thousands of dollars... lawsuits cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend and even millions of dollars to settle.

Creating a Breach-Proof Culture, where employees across all departments and areas share a heightened sensitivity, understanding and commitment to eliminating breaches can reduce your organizations risk.

1 comment:

  1. Great article highlighting the need for everyone to have a much higher computer/data security awareness. Check a (free) blog, "The Business-Technology Weave" (can Google to it) - it reflects what this article is saying. The majority of breaches are due to human error, therefore awareness and common sense are key, in supporting all necessary best practices. The blog author also has a book we use at work, "I.T. WARS" (you can Google that too). It has a great Security chapter, and others that treat security. Highly recommended. Great stuff.

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