Numerous Employees Endanger Highly Sensitive Data
Nowadays, safeguarding the security and integrity of data is a significant challenge for most companies. However, many employees do not seem to share this concern, as their data management practices are often inadequate. A recent report by Western Digital, based on a survey of 737 data managers and 1,467 data users in several countries, revealed that nearly 25% of employees believe they may have put highly sensitive data at risk in the past year.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of data managers (68%) view employee behavior as a bigger threat to the security of their highly sensitive data than external hackers and other malicious actors. Moreover, less than two in five (37%) data users utilize HDDs and SSDs for sharing data, with email being the second most popular method of data sharing, despite only 13% of data managers deeming it secure.
The COVID-19 pandemic and remote/hybrid working arrangements have made things more difficult. A third of data managers (35%) believe that employees lack the necessary tools and technology to protect their data from home, while 33% feel more psychologically “removed” from risks when working remotely.
Cloud technologies are now widely used for sharing and storing data, but almost all respondents (87%) believe that cloud data breaches and leaks have become a “significant” or “moderate” problem. However, data managers have a solution: over half (54%) plan to use HDDs or SSDs more in the next two years, and 76% view HDDs and SSDs with encryption or security features as an effective way to address data security concerns. The report concludes that improving the use of secure data storage methods can help mitigate data security risks.
