Four percent of employees have lost important data, finds YouGov survey
Following the UK government losing sensitive data belonging to 25 million individuals, banks have had to take extremely expensive emergency measures to closely monitor all fund transfers out of potentially affected accounts.
In a more recent data blunder it has emerged that three million learner drivers' details have been lost from a "secure facility" in Iowa in the US.
Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly told the Commons the latest security breach did not include personal data such as credit card or bank details.
This is not the first time that public data has been compromised and if this level of security continues it certainly will not be the last.
According to a survey conducted by YouGov, 4% of employees have lost important data, whether this is through theft or carelessness.
Poor management of customer data can also lead to a loss of company revenue; according to QAS, UK businesses are loosing 6.4% of revenue every year.
IT service company, QuoStar, believe tougher security measures must be taken to protect data and find it unbelievable that the data was not encrypted by the government, and the disks sent without tracking.
Although the mistakes of the government are irreversible, companies can carry out small-scale day-to-day operations that can protect their data.
QuoStar poses the following questions to all companies in charge of any volume of data:
- Do you regularly backup your data in your company?
- Do you take the data off-site?
- If you deleted a folder 6 weeks ago without knowing, could you get it back today?
- Can you guarantee that you can get your data back if you came into your office to find you had been the victim of crime, flooding or electrical failure?
