Beyond the Bottom Line: How Data Loss Affects Employees

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6407-employees-suffer-data-loss.html

Losing company data doesn't just hurt a business' bottom line; it also
negatively affects the company's employees.

Nearly two-thirds of IT professionals have experienced some form of data
loss in their careers, according to research from backup and recovery
solutions provider Carbonite. While 33 percent of those professionals said
the result had been profit loss, and 32 percent said it led to a missed
business opportunity, many also reported that data loss hurt their
company's employees.

Specifically, 25 percent of those surveyed said employee work-life balance
suffered after data was lost or stolen, while 24 percent said there was a
drop in office morale. Additionally, 21 percent said their IT department
became mirco-managed, 15 percent said employees were fired or laid off
because of the incident and 11 percent reported that employees quit after
their company experienced data loss.

"While data protection may be top of mind for IT, this report demonstrates
why protecting data files should be a company-wide concern and policy,"
said David Friend, co-founder and CEO at Carbonite. "Beyond just the
financial impact of data loss, most business owners don't realize how data
loss can affect other aspects of their business, including their employees."

In addition to the impact on employees, data loss does have a significant
financial effect on businesses. The IT pros surveyed believe it would cost
their companies an average of $468,610 in lost revenue if all their data
files went missing. Overall, 40 percent of IT professionals who service
small businesses believe it's likely their companies would go out of
business if they permanently lost all their files.

Despite those negative consequences, the majority of small businesses are
not concerned with the possibility of losing their data. Nearly 80 percent
of those surveyed said the chance of their data being stolen was unlikely.

That lack of fear is evident in how often these businesses back up their
files. Even though daily backups are recommended, less than a third of
those companies surveyed had conducted a backup that day. The majority had
backed up all of their business' documents and files within the past week,
with 15 percent saying their most recent backup was up to a month old.

The study was based on surveys of 500 IT professionals at U.S. companies
with fewer than 100 employees.

_______________________________________________
Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () datalossdb org)
Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/
Unsubscribe at http://lists.osvdb.org/mailman/listinfo/dataloss
For inquiries regarding use or licensing of data, e-mail
        sales () riskbasedsecurity com 

Supporters:

Risk Based Security (http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/)
YourCISO is an affordable SaaS solution that provides a comprehensive information security program that ensures focus 
on the right security.  If you need security help or want to provide real risk reduction for your clients contact us!