@Risk

Email is fundamental to business communication.

But is this commonplace, everyday electronic correspondence a threat to your company’s data security and regulatory compliance?

It very well could be, and according to a recent study by Zix Corporation and Ponemon Institute,  IT professionals are growing increasingly concerned about these risks, especially now that more and more  business is conducted outside the office using mobile devices.

The survey, which received feedback from 830 IT and IT security practitioners, as well as IT compliance, legal and other specialists, found that: (more…)

Smartphones are embedded into today’s corporate culture. But, if you use your smartphone for both business and personal purposes, you may be putting your company at risk.

A new study from AVG Technologies found that most people are surprisingly indifferent to the many serious security risks associated with the storage and transmission of sensitive data on iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices. For example: (more…)

International business travel is now a routine part of corporate life. But, unfortunately, it comes with risks –and some countries pose more of a threat than others.

While planning your next trip, you may want to consider these new survey results from International SOS.  After polling nearly 600 US-based corporate security professionals, travel managers, human resources executives, medical professionals and others, International SOS found that: (more…)

Today’s workforce is mobile, and these days, it’s becoming more and more common for employees take the office with them wherever they go.

But, does more mobility mean less security? Do mobile workers increase the threat of a data breach at your company?

As you might expect, the answer to both of those questions is “yes.” New survey results reveal that two-thirds of employees expose sensitive data outside the workplace –some even exposing highly regulated and confidential information such as customer credit card and social security numbers. As many as two-thirds (67 percent) of those polled said they had worked with some type of sensitive data outside the trusted confines of the office within the past year, including highly sensitive information such as customer credit card numbers (26 percent), customer social security numbers (24 percent), patient medical information (15 percent) and internal corporate financial information (42 percent).

The Visual Data Breach Risk Assessment Study, conducted by People Security and commissioned by 3M, also found the majority of companies do not have basic policies or measures in place to protect sensitive information from computer screen snooping when employees are working in public places.

Here are a few more findings that I found particularly interesting: (more…)

You check email when you’re on vacation. You bring a company laptop on your trips. Taking “the office” on the road has become so commonplace that these days, we generally don’t think twice about it.

But, a new study from Credant Technologies offers some interesting insights and more than a few words of caution. After all, in some cases, accessing company data from mobile devices can seriously impact corporate security.

Consider these findings. Credant polled 1,000 office workers in London and found that: (more…)