Companies miss basic precautions that could prevent data breaches
Public awareness of data security issues has never been higher. Not only have data breaches made the news but the FBI's battle with Apple has put encryption in the headlines too.
Yet despite the high profile of threats a new survey of IT security professionals from secure browser company Authentic8 shows that businesses aren't taking basic steps to protect themselves.
Over 57 percent of respondents admit to the reuse of passwords for different websites when it's "not important" and nearly 30 percent use at least one personal password for a work account. In addition 40 percent of respondents don’t use a separate browser for work and personal use, and 43 percent of respondents don't have a specific BYOD policy in place at work.
Over 26 percent don't have a specific browsing policy in place and 36 percent allow some personal browsing activity at work. The top four threats that concern respondents are, identify theft, stolen credit card data, viruses and malware, and phishing or password theft. Ransomware only ranks sixth on the list, with government surveillance ninth.
Looking ahead to 2017 almost 44 percent are worried about the threat to US businesses from foreign hackers and 21.5 percent about user negligence and error.
"Every year we see huge data breaches impacting all kinds of companies -- big box stores, dating websites, financial institutions, file-sharing services, social media, and so on. In fact, more than 30 percent of our respondents said their data had been lost or stolen in a breach in 2016", says Drew Paik, marketing director at Authentic8, writing on the company's blog. "Cybersecurity threats aren't going away -- in fact, they're only increasing. So, in addition to any New Year's resolutions you may have to work out more, eat fewer sweets and so on, consider your company's security measures and resolve to cut the fat on bad cybersecurity policies and practices".
You can find out more about the results on the Authentic8 blog.
Photo Credit: elwynn/Shutterstock