Trend Micro released a report on Monday that says data leaks are becoming a leading source of headaches for U.S., U.K., German, and Japanese companies. The study, which looked at sixteen hundred corporate end users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, found that the loss of sensitive company data was ranked as the second most serious threat at work, following viruses.
Second only to virus threats, data leaks still weigh heavy on the minds of users. (IMG:J.Anderson)
While data leaks ranked number two under virus related threats, it is interesting to note that more than half of participants who have been victims of spyware or Phishing scams believe that their IT department could have prevented the incident. While true, the adage that “There is no patch for human stupidity” plays a role here. IT could have stepped up the levels of protection on sensitive data and end users, but ultimately the end user was the one who fell for the scam.
The U.S. respondents are ego driven, or perhaps they do have their priorities right. Seventy-four percent of U.S. respondents say they know what type of company data is confidential compared to sixty-seven percent in the U.K., sixty-eight percent in Germany, and only forty percent in Japan. However, end users of large companies in Japan are more aware of what type of company data is confidential compared to end users of smaller organizations.
The study also found that approximately forty-six percent of companies do not currently have a policy to prevent data leaks. Companies in Germany and Japan are more likely than UK companies to implement data leak prevention policies. Among end users whose company currently has a policy to prevent data leakage, more U.S. end users (seventy percent) report to have received training compared to the other countries, especially in the U.K., where only fifty-seven percent of end users said they received data protection training.
"A majority of data leaks happen from within, either by accident or on purpose by valid users who have access to the data within a corporate network. This can trigger fines, litigation, brand damage, and bad press so it's no surprise that data leaks are becoming such an important issue for companies," said Glen Kosaka, director of marketing for Trend Micro data leak prevention business unit.
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