Many companies leave themselves vulnerable to losing sensitive data, new research confirms.
The study by the Ponemon Institute and Vontu concludes that firms often lose sensitive data because they don't know where it is located.
"The discovery and protection of confidential data within the enterprise is a top priority for IT Security today, as the new Ponemon study clearly demonstrates," said Steve Roop, vice president of marketing at Vontu.
"Chief information security officers are asking, 'Where is confidential data stored within my organisation and how secure is it?' In most cases, there are significant opportunities for improved data security."
The study found that 81 per cent of companies surveyed reported the loss of one or more laptops containing sensitive data over the past 12 months. Lost data usually constituted intellectual property, business documents, customer data and employee records.
In addition, 64 per cent of companies surveyed reported never having conducted an inventory of sensitive consumer information, while the same proportion also reported never having inventoried employee data.
"Corporations are clearly struggling with the challenges of identifying and protecting sensitive data, as well as developing successful strategies for securing confidential information stored among the myriad devices that make up today's data networks," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.
"Our findings point to the shockingly high risk to both business and consumers of undiscovered confidential data, but we believe that the data also serve as a compass to help point organisations toward effective solutions to this vexing problem."
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