SECURING DATA IN THE POROUS ENTERPRISE
Technology over the last two decades has advanced exponentially, and has been a massive enabler for enterprise. With the rise of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies, and the near-full integration of the internet and mobile devices into our work lives, business is now able to be done from anywhere, at anytime. The advantages are numerous, and often self-explanatory.
What is sometimes more overlooked is the ‘curse’ of this integrated age, of being constantly connected and online. In the early 1990s, if a sensitive document mysteriously went missing on your work PC, you could probably chalk it up to a faulty piece of hardware. Today, a missing document, folder or entire server may have succumbed to a much more sinister fate – it may have been intentionally wiped, corrupted or encrypted by a hacker or piece of malware. The press is awash with these data loss stories, and the frequency and severity of such threats are proving that not even the largest tech companies are safe. One only needs to look at the recent Sony and iCloud hacking scandals to see the potential for damage.
However, it is not only externally to the organisation that threats to enterprise data lie. Risks can often be internal. Employees can either unwittingly or intentionally put unprotected mission-critical data at risk if proper safeguards are not in place. An example of this is the rise of ‘shadow IT’. As workforces become more tech-literate, employees are increasingly turning to third-party, non-company approved cloud solutions which expose corporate data to risk. This creates another potential headache for IT support, security teams and the chief information officer (CIO) to keep a handle on.
Jul-Sep 2015 Issue
Code42