Friday, October 31, 2014

The security threat of unsanctioned file sharing

From Help Net Security:

The security threat of unsanctioned file sharing

More than 1,000 IT security professionals from the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany were surveyed. Key findings from the report include:
  • Almost half (49 percent) of respondents believe their company lacks clear visibility into employees’ use of file sharing/file sync and share applications.
  • Half of respondents (51 percent) aren’t convinced their organisations have the ability to manage and control user access to sensitive documents and how they are shared.
  • The majority of organisations have policies governing the use of file sharing, but policies are not being communicated to employees effectively.
  • Only 54 percent of respondents say their IT department is involved in the adoption of new technologies for end users, including cloud-based services.
More sobering, approximately 61 percent of respondents confessed that they have “often or frequently” done the following:
  • Accidentally forwarded files or documents to individuals not authorised to see them.
  • Used their personal file-sharing/file sync-and-share apps in the workplace.
  • Shared files through unencrypted email.
  • Failed to delete confidential documents or files as required by policies.

This is a very serious issue for SMB's. Whether it be open files shares on your network, employees accessing DropBox/Google Drive, copying business data to their laptop or using USB thumb drives it is very easy for this data to be mishandled.  If you would like to learn more please contact me via email or leave comments on this blog.


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