Organizations struggle to balance security with systems integration

Many organizations are failing to meet data security and governance requirements according to a new Ovum survey sponsored by data flow specialist Axway.

The results reveal that 23 percent have failed a security audit in the past three years and 17 percent lack confidence in their ability to pass one today. It also puts the average cost of a data breach at $350 per record.

The report also highlights the growing complexity of governance and integration challenges facing organizations. With the EU soon to impose data protection legislation reforms, businesses need to ensure they have a 360-degree view of their data or face risks to their economic position and reputation.

"Ovum's findings shine a light on the challenges most organizations have in meeting today's increasing data security and compliance requirements, as well as the risks of failing to instil effective data flow governance," says Dean Hidalgo, executive vice president, global marketing, Axway. "With proven MFT and API management technologies, either on-premise or in the cloud, and by designing a more unified and comprehensive integration strategy, organizations can govern the flow of data across internal and external sources".

The study identifies key priorities for chief information officers, chief information security officers and chief risk officers. Business continuity and disaster recovery is seen as the top priority (87 percent), followed by protecting against cyber threats (85 percent), managing insider threats (84 percent) and compliance monitoring (83 percent).

More worrying is that many organizations struggle to balance security requirements with other strategies. Also more enterprise assets are likely to be exposed to external sources, such as partners, customers and third-party developers, with 78 percent of organizations either having an API program in place or planning to implement one in the next few years. File transfer solutions are also a concern with reliability, monitoring and compliance among the top issues.

"As the volume and speed of business continues to grow, organizations face greater risk of exposing sensitive data. Moreover, stringent regulatory mandates call for transparent audit trails and a high level of visibility into and control over the flow of sensitive data. Therefore, enterprises can no longer afford to implement infrastructure and governance solutions in isolation," says Saurabh Sharma, Senior Analyst, Ovum. "Traditional approaches to managing business interactions are not suitable for meeting these complex requirements and significantly increase the chance of a data breach and compliance failure".

A whitepaper of the results is available to download from the Axway website there will also be a webinar on the topic tomorrow (15 October) with Axway and Ovum experts. Meantime you can see an overview of the results in infographic form below.

Axway Ovum Governance, Risk and Compliance Infographic by Axway.

Photo Credit: tlegend/Shutterstock