Breaches over the past few years at companies like Sony, Target, Home Depot, and Anthem have grabbed headlines and exposed the personal details of millions of people. In 2015, there were 781 US data breaches and the risk is predicted to grow exponentially.
There are also hard internal costs. After the breach at Sony, for example, the company paid USD 8 million in damages to its employees for identity theft, compromised personal information, as well as the resulting legal fees. Protecting big data, privacy, and your staff means keeping information secure and taking a measured response if an incident occurs.
As listed by the ITRC, hacking topped the list, followed by ‘employee error/negligence’ and ‘accidental email/Internet exposure’. One survey found that ‘burdensome, complex, and ambiguous information security requirements’ can put a lot of pressure on employees, which makes them more likely to violate established information security policies. Other studies have found that people often use ‘neutralization techniques’, downplaying or ignoring certain values, as a means of justifying policy violations.
Experts advise companies to account for the human element in any data security planning. The also recommend companies to give employees the training they need, make data security part of their culture.
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