Almost half of employees have access to more data than they need

A new study of over 700 full-time US employees reveals that that 48 percent of employees have access to more company data than they need to perform their jobs, while 12 percent of employees say they have access to all company data.

The survey by business app marketplace GetApp also asked employees what classifications of data protection are in place at their company. No more than a third of businesses were found to use any one individual data classification.

The lowest in use are Proprietary (15 percent) and Highly Confidential (18 percent). The most commonly used are Confidential -- 33 percent of businesses use this classification, Internal -- 30 percent, Public -- 29 percent and Restricted/Sensitive -- 25 percent.

"As companies contend with rapidly growing volumes of sensitive information, data security risks are increasing for businesses of all sizes. That's why the outcome of our survey is so alarming," says Zach Capers, senior content analyst at GetApp. "You may have complete trust in your employees, but innocent mistakes happen and it could cost a business millions in lost revenue and reputational damage. Strict data classification, alongside extensive employee training on the dangers of poor data handling practices, will minimize the chance of a leak happening at your business."

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