Thứ Hai, 23 tháng 1, 2012

The Economic Recession Could Lead to Less Data Protection

By Oliver David


Even though the latest economic indicators show movement toward a healthier economy than in the past four years, the overall well being of the United States and world economy remains in the realm of recession territory.

Throughout any slump or economic down cycle, numerous companies try to make choices to scale back on numerous line items in their operating spending budgets. Frequently occasions these reductions are made to areas which are regarded as support or not important towards the each day operations of the company. 1 such area that's frequently considered a “back office” operation is information protection. The UK Information Commission Office made a statement recently to place companies on notice that information protection might be “under threat” while in a continuing downturn in the economy.

The Commission head, Cristopher Graham stated that “those dealing with information security and access to information are under real pressure, hit by the double whammy of increasing demands for information from citizens and consumers on the one hand and reduced resourcing on the other”. He added, “Businesses under pressure in the downturn must be tempted to cut corners and push boundaries. That’s a bad call, since the first casualty of a big data breach is going to be a brand’s reputation. Consumers will abandon companies that disrespect their privacy.”

With these decisions being made on an almost daily basis during a recession, it is important for CFOs and CIOs to work together. CFOs should serve as a facilitator to help different entities manage and participate in the requirement for data security. CFOs understand that data breaches can affect the company’s bottom line both due to increased costs to monitor and secure data, but also with increased insurance, potential damage claims and lawsuits as well as intangible damage to the company’s customer trust.

Understanding the cutting costs in the data protection area may end up costing the company more money in the long run is also an important point for CFOs to understand in a recession. This allows the CIO to give valuable information to the CFO and have them as a partner in deciding what types of systems and safeguards to have in place over data. The CIO’s role is to explain how the investment will save the organization money and how it will impact the business.

Hardware authentication is one way to protect data.




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