Constantly improving technology has led to an explosion of corporate data. It has also made it more vulnerable, says Tracey Stretton, legal adviser at Kroll Ontrack, data-security consultancy. Employees increasingly bring their own devices to work. Even the simplest can store the equivalent of several tonnes of paper. And more and more people use social networks at work, which thrive on exchanging information.
Worse, many firms do not have the right policies in place to deal with these changes. More than half in America and Britain do not have “data map”, document describing what information is being stored and who has access to it, according to new study by Kroll Ontrack. Few have implemented rules about how to deal with new technologies. Social networks are not the only risk. Companies are increasingly storing proprietary data offsite, in scattered “cloud” of data centres.
The State Department has learned what the music and film industries learned long ago: that digital files are easy to copy and distribute, says Bruce Schneier, security expert. Companies are about to make that discovery, too. There will be more leaks, and they will be embarrassing, according to The Economist.
• For the full article visit www.economist.com.
• For WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange’s interview with Forbes magazine on his next big target: business, visit blogs.forbes.com.
