Businesses across Europe are failing to secure their
critical business data, despite its importance to the business, a
survey of 150 IT directors has revealed.
The research, covering organisations in the UK, France and
Germany, suggests that companies regard data security as a lower
priority than the security of the rest of their IT systems.
Across the three countries surveyed only 25% of companies listed
corporate data as an asset on their balance sheets, the survey by
Embacadero and Vanson Bourne found.
Some 66% of organisations listed their networks, servers and
applications as a security priority, but only 15% listed corporate
data, and just 6% said the security of their databases was a
priority.
Roughly 50% said they would have difficulty making data
available if they kept it secure.
More than 25% of firms felt their organisations did not have a
thorough understanding of their legal obligations for corporate
data. Less than 50% were able to grade their corporate data in
order of importance, and 25% treated all data as of equal value,
the research revealed.
Data management was a higher priority in the UK - where it was
rated as an issue by 67% of IT directors- than in France (51%), or
Germany (40%), the survey found.