Data Leakage on the Rise, Survey Finds

As information leakage incidents grow, report shows security is top of mind, but solutions in place are insufficient.

Confidela, the maker of WatchDox, a document control, tracking and protection solution, announced survey results based on responses from more than 500 IT professionals and C-level executives. The survey found as the need to share and collaborate increases and serious incidents of data leakage are on the rise, this indicates document security is a top issue of concern for organizations, but the actions they take to protect and share documents are mostly flawed or incomplete. WatchDox surveyed these C-level executives and IT professionals within pharmaceutical, insurance, health care, semiconductor, software and IT organizations.

According to the survey results, 65 percent of respondents shared sensitive data and more than 50 percent did so on a regular basis; 96 percent said they were concerned or extremely concerned about this data getting into the wrong hands. One in three admitted to having at least one incident when data had leaked. About one in four does not know of any leaks or is unwilling to say.

The survey found 85 percent of leaks are not from malicious intent, and 83 percent ranked document and intellectual property security as very important, ahead of antivirus and network security. However, despite clear knowledge of and concern for data leakage, only 12 percent are using a DLP (Data Loss Prevention) or DRM (Digital Rights Management) system.

Those surveyed also reported that because their organizations have yet to invest in truly secure, digital document sharing, they are hesitant to embrace otherwise highly valued cost-cutting and green initiatives. Several professionals stated that while online document distribution could easily replace resource-intensive mail shipments, such as faster, greener delivery solutions make it all too easy for document recipients to forward materials to unauthorized parties, print or duplicate them.

"This research is further confirmation that secure document management and exchange is truly a concern and priority for organizations," said Moti Rafalin, CEO and founder of Confidela. "Our WatchDox service solves this concern by leveraging the latest technologies, such as cloud computing and SAAS, as well as new authentication techniques, delivering almost seamless protection, control and tracking for documents, wherever they go. By using WatchDox, customers are able to go green, save money and become more efficient, while knowing their documents and intellectual property are safe."

Rafalin said WatchDox is designed to help organizations go green while simultaneously plugging security gaps with a protected document exchange solution, providing a way for businesses to share sensitive material electronically with complete control over who views, shares or prints the documents.