Top Five Ways to Lose Data (And How to Prevent Them)

Customer and shareholder confidence rely on your company’s ability to safeguard intellectual property and protect private data. Unfortunately, there are literally thousands of ways data can pass into the wrong hands, whether through malicious intent or simple negligence.

At one end of the spectrum, you might face deliberate, highly sophisticated attacks from organized hackers. At the other end, you have well-intentioned employees with access to sensitive data. They simply don't understand its value or what they should, or shouldn't, be doing to protect it.

Here are the top five data loss culprits:

1. Pocket-sized Problems
There are numerous ways to transport huge files, from file transfer sites to the almost ubiquitous MP3 player. An iPod can easily hold 200,000 songs, with plenty of space left over for all your business plans and sales forecasts. And it’s not just malicious employees that you need to watch out for: A loyal staff member may just be taking some data home to work on, but what if they lose it?

			Related Information: Learn about our Data Loss Prevention Service. Download our Data Loss Prevention brochure  and white paper (PDFs). Contact us.

2. Lost Property
More than 125,000 laptops and PDAs were left in cabs just in London in 2008. Think how many USB memory sticks go missing each day. Also, several high-profile breaches have occurred when ‘obsolete’ equipment has been disposed of, still containing valuable data.
 
3. Undo! Undo!
It’s all too easy to accidentally send a message to the wrong person. You’ll have more to worry about than a red face if sensitive data is attached. And it’s not just e-mail; Web browsers have become the major source of malware. Approximately 65 percent of Windows applications, many delivered through social networking sites, are malware.
 
4. Backstage Pass
Collaboration is great, but poorly controlled shared areas can multiply the number of people with unnecessary access to sensitive data. They might be perfectly trustworthy, but should you be taking that risk?
 
5. Gift Horses
It’s alarming how many users will hand over their credentials for a bar of chocolate at a conference. Even more will accept a shiny new USB memory stick... and the keylogger that goes with it.

You can lock down laptops and USB ports, encrypt e-mail, and spend millions training your workforce. It won't stop accidents from happening; it won't remove vulnerabilities you haven't thought of yet; and it won't stop disgruntled or compromised staff from finding ways to steal data. So what can you do?

Our Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Service can help you identify and classify sensitive data, and put in place appropriate mechanisms to protect and monitor that data whether it’s in use, in motion (being transferred between servers or e-mailed) or at rest (stored on servers, PCs, laptops, etc.).

This automated solution can prevent all sensitive data from leaving your network through e-mail or Web services and can block the downloading of sensitive data to USB devices, CD/DVDs, and/or local drives. It combines both endpoint and network-based controls and is fully customizable to provide the right level of protection for your organization. Because it's a managed service, we provide the expertise so you don't have to worry about training or diverting resources.

This article originally appeared in UK Smart Business.