With more than 9 in 10 organisations reporting a data breach in the last five years, businesses need to rapidly put measures in place to prevent the loss of Personal Identifiable Information (PII), especially with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) set to transform cyber security regulation in Europe with significant financial and legal (not to mention reputational) implications.
A recent report from Lloyd’s, on what European businesses are doing to tackle cyber security, shows that 92 per cent of organisations have suffered a data breach in the last five years, highlighting the increasing threat of data loss within organisations. What’s more, 57 per cent of businesses surveyed stated that they know “little” or “nothing” about the GDPR, despite the serious financial (with costs of up to 4 per cent of revenue) and legal repercussion of not complying with the regulations. With the introduction of the GDPR fast approaching, organisations must ensure they maintain strict control over their sensitive data, this includes securing their partners and automating their mailrooms.
Joe Doyle, Marketing Director of Annodata, commented: “In light of the mounting threats organisations face in today’s security landscape and with the deadline for compliance with the GDPR rapidly approaching, it’s vital for organisations to address the possibility of data leakage and security breaches so these pressures can be tackled effectively. Printer technology has advanced with the help of smartphones and tablets, leading to staff breaking free from their desktop computers. These mobile devices are now fully integrated within the IT estate of many organisations, affording broad functionality such as the ability to print from mobile devices and to scan to email and network drives. Although this new usability brings big benefits, new areas of vulnerability rise in parallel. As a result, it’s vital that organisations ensure they pay close attention to the security posture of their devices, data, network and internet-enabled printers.
“Businesses need to ensure they have a thorough awareness of where their data is and who has access to it. An increasing number of devices in the mix as well as ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) adoption creates increasing complexity within organisations. As a result, it’s important to maintain a transparent view of which devices are accessing which systems and data. Not only this, but by introducing measures such as automated mailrooms and secure release printing, organisations can effectively guard against internal data leakage.
“One of the most critical components in mitigating the threat of data loss for organisations is ensuring they partner with a trusted cloud provider that can maintain the integrity of the data and service. Businesses must do their due diligence when making this choice by asking the right questions; where will the data be stored? Who has access to it? What security mechanisms are in place to protect it? What guarantees do I have about service delivery? What happens when I want to retrieve my data? Through an awareness of data backup, access restrictions and the other ins and outs of the service offering, organisations are able to partner securely and effectively with a provider that best reflects their interests, whilst also ensuring they have a secure framework in place,” concludes Doyle.
