Rush to digital transformation puts security of data at risk

Digital transformation projects are underway in the vast majority of businesses, according to a new report, but 'aggressive' transformers are most at risk from data breaches.

The latest Data Threat Report from Thales eSecurity shows digital transformation in some form is happening in 97 percent of organizations. 86 percent say they feel vulnerable to threats, yet less than a third of respondents (only 30 percent) are using encryption within these environments.

As companies move to the cloud or multi-cloud environments as part of their digital transformation, protecting their sensitive data is becoming increasingly complex. Nine out of 10 respondents are using, or will be using, some type of cloud environment, and 44 percent rated complexity of that environment as a barrier to implementing proper data security measures. In fact, this complexity is ahead of staff needs, budget restraints and securing organizational buy-in.

Globally, 60 percent of organizations say they have been breached at some point in their history, with 30 percent experiencing a breach within the past year alone. In a year where breaches regularly appear in headlines, the US had the highest number of breaches in the last three years (65 percent) as well as in the last year (36 percent).

On a positive note there are some areas -- IoT (42 percent), Containers (47 percent) and Big Data (45 percent) -- where encryption adoption and usage are above average.

"Data security is vitally important," says Tina Stewart, vice president of market strategy at Thales eSecurity. "Organizations need to take a fresh look at how they implement a data security and encryption strategy in support of their transition to the cloud and meeting regulatory and compliance mandates. As our 2019 Thales Data Threat Report shows, we have now reached a point where almost every organization has been breached. As data breaches continue to be widespread and commonplace, enterprises around the globe can rely on Thales to secure their digital transformation in the face of these ongoing threats."

You can see the full findings along with best practice tips for protecting data in the report available from the Thales website.

Photo Credit: Olivier Le Moal / Shutterstock