Although the volume of data being generated by companies is doubling approximately every year-and-a-half, much of this data will become ‘dark data’ and is increasing the threat of cyber attacks.
This was revealed by recent research carried out by enterprise data protection and software-defined storage provider Veritas Technologies, called "Value of Data", that polled 1 500 IT decision-makers and data managers across 15 countries.
‘Dark data’ is the data that is captured and stored but never analysed or used for any business purposes.
Rhea Sarmis, Veritas business unit manager at Axiz, says the research showed that on average, more than half (52%) of all data within businesses remains unclassified or untagged, highlighting that organisations lack visibility over huge volumes of data, which is increasing the risk of cyber crime.
“Classifying data allows businesses to rapidly scan and tag data to guarantee that any proprietary or confidential data is appropriately managed and secured, irrespective of where that data resides,” says Sarmis.
In addition, she says having full visibility into data helps businesses remain compliant with increasingly stringent data protection regulations, that are highly specific about data retention, as well as how it must be protected and managed.
According to Sarmis, the research showed public cloud and mobile environments are the weakest links in the data security chain, as the bulk of data housed in these environments is most likely to remain unclassified and therefore not properly secured.
Only 5% of those surveyed say they have classified all of their data in the public cloud, and some 6% claim to have classified all of their data that resides on mobile devices.
“Alarmingly, 61% of companies admit they have classified less than half of their public cloud data, with 67% having classified less than half of the data on mobile devices,” she adds.
Concerningly, 69% of businesses are under the false impression that data protection, privacy and compliance are their cloud service provider's responsibility even though contracts usually stipulate that the onus is on the business itself.
The workforce of today is no loner office-bound, and as it grows increasingly mobile, the lines between personal and business environments become blurred, and so does the organisation’s data.
“Any data that is fragmented and invisible threatens the company’s reputation and even its bottom line, as it could fall into the wrong hands,” she adds.
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