Sensitive Data Protection Bedevils IT Security Pros

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.informationweek.com/government/cybersecurity/sensitive-data-protection-bedevils-it-security-pros/d/d-id/1278796

By William Welsh
InformationWeek.com
6/24/2014

Most organizations don't know where their sensitive structured or 
unstructured data resides, says new Ponemon study.

Knowing where sensitive data is located on an organization's computer 
systems would seem a prerequisite for sound IT security, but the vast 
majority of IT security practitioners say they can't count even on that 
fundamental premise, according to a Ponemon Institute study released 
Tuesday.

Only 16% of respondents said they knew where their organization's 
sensitive structured data resides, according to the State of Data Centric 
Security study. A mere 7% of respondents said they know the location of 
all sensitive unstructured data, including in emails and documents.

Not knowing where their organization's sensitive or confidential data is 
located was the No. 1 worry of the IT security respondents, eclipsing both 
hacker attacks and insider threats, according to the study.

The study, which was sponsored by data integration software provider 
Informatica, is based on a survey of 1,587 IT security professionals whose 
jobs include helping protect sensitive or confidential structured and 
unstructured data.

[...]



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