Over half of enterprises suffer data breaches in non-production environments

A new study shows 91 percent of organizations are concerned about the expanded exposure footprint across non-production environments (including software development, testing, and data analytics).

Once a production dataset is copied many times over into non-production environments, more workers have access to it and the data is no longer subject to the same strict security controls.

The report from Perforce Software reveals that 86 percent of organizations allow data compliance exceptions in non-production. As a result, 54 percent have already experienced a data breach or theft involving sensitive data in non-production environments.

In addition 74 percent report that the volume of sensitive data stored in non-production environments has increased in the last year.

The report also reveals that the challenge of protecting sensitive data will only get more complex with the rise of AI. 85 percent of enterprises report concerns about regulatory non-compliance in AI environments. Even more troubling, 68 percent of organizations surveyed see a lack of solutions to tackle data privacy in AI environments.

"AI is transforming industries, and data is at the heart of AI," says Rod Cope, chief technology officer of Perforce Software. "When it comes to AI and data, it can be a double-edged sword. There’s a lot of excitement around the innovation possible in AI, but data in AI environments must be protected. The findings in the State of Data Compliance and Security Report underline the importance of complying with data privacy regulations in AI environments, too."

The report shows that protecting sensitive data outside production environments is a challenge. Respondents find it difficult, time-consuming and may slow down the organization, for instance, 32 percent are concerned that it impacts speed of software development and 36 percent say that it impacts software quality. 38 percent cite the ability to track and comply with ever-changing regulations.

To address these concerns, organizations are turning to tools and approaches like static data masking, cited as a current solution by 66 percent of organizations surveyed.

The full report is available here.

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