A new study looking into the frequency of data loss incidents in the private sector has found that around 33 per cent of firms with more than 1000 staff have experienced data loss within the last year.
Security vendor Proofpoint commissioned the study, to analyse how data loss is a common concern for many businesses. Spokesperson, Keith Crosley, explained that it would be impossible to highlight data loss as a rarity.
The study identified several key categories of data loss which can affect businesses, including valuable or scandalous information being compromised, private client data being stolen or lost and details leaking as a result of employee action.
Analyst Michael Osterman, said that although the figures gathered as part of this survey seem bad, he believes the reality is actually more severe. He explained that many firms do not wish to alert potential clients in the event of a data loss, so as to maintain their reputations and avoid the action of industry regulators.
Mr Osterman said that the level of data loss in medium and large sized businesses was in keeping with trends established over past annual periods, despite the best efforts of many businesses to strengthen their resistance to data loss, using enhanced handling policy and frontline protection.
There are frequent high profile data loss cases which are reported widely in the mainstream media, but Mr Osterman and his colleagues believe that people are being shown only a small part of a much bigger picture.
Over 260 professionals responded to the survey, with organisation sizes ranging between 1000 and 20,000. Between the three major categories of data loss as laid out in the survey, the distribution of incidents was virtually equal, although it was the loss of information that could potentially cause embarrassment for the business that took the largest proportion at 36 per cent.
Mr Crosley spoke of the problems with social networking sites and their relation to the increase in data loss. He said that firms are becoming aware of the use of these tools by employees and, as such, were able to register more data loss incidents, which in turn keeps the figures consistently high, even as the fight against data loss intensifies.
