Global research by InfoWatch company has revealed 382 private confidential leaks in the first half of 2010. That’s more than 2 per day. 169 (44%) of such leaks are reported to be intentional and 185 (48%) — to be accidental.
Comparing to the first half of year 2009, the number of intentional leaks has reduced by 11%. This fact could be a result of more strict corporate security policies and deployment of information protection solutions in a number of companies.
A number of accidental leaks has got higher by 11% comparing to the same period. Specialists blame increased usage of mobile devices at work (e.g. notebooks, netbooks, flash drives and smart phones) and a lack of data encryption on these devices.
Another common reason for accidental confidential data leaks is weak control over paper copies of data. Only modern corporate DLP systems take control of which information is printed on paper, while otherwise there’s no way to track printed data which leads to data leaks.
DLP (Data Leak Prevention) systems are software or hardware systems designed to prevent confidential data leaks. Such systems are based on analysis and blocking of data streams which cross info system boundaries.
US and UK are known to be the leaders of data leaks, and local laws are to blame. Companies are obliged to register all cases of data leaks. Russia, Canada and Germany complete the top 5 info-leaking countries.
General president of InfoWatch — Natalia Kaspersky notes that “lack of control over confidential info imposes major risks, which affect performance of commercial and government organizations. Both financial and reputation-wise.”
Tags: Information Security, News, Protection
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