The primary goal for this blog is to provide our readers with periodic updates of events occurring in the world of managed file transfer. One such event is the recent release of Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report. (If you follow the link to the DBIR, please know it is a 63-page document so it may take some time to load).
The DBIR reports a sharp increase in both the scope and extent of data breaches occurring around the world. But that is not the biggest take away from the DBIR. In our opinion, this is the most significant take away:
- Less than 1% of breaches in this year’s DBIR were attributable to methods considered high on the difficulty scale. In fact, the DBIR notes that most breaches could still be easily prevented, with 78% of techniques considered to be in the “low” or “very low” category of sophistication.
In other words, most cyber attacks that resulted in the theft of data are opportunistic and rely on relatively unsophisticated means.
“The bottom line is that unfortunately, no organization is immune to a data breach in this day and age,” said Wade Baker, principal author of the DBIR series. “We have the tools today to combat cyber crime, but it’s really all about selecting the right ones and using them in the right way.”
Mr. Baker hit the proverbial nail on the head. Business data is undergoing exponential expansion in terms of volume, proliferation of formats, and the speed at which it flows in and out of the organization. Thus, organizations of all sizes need to secure their transfers of business data, both internally and externally, and must focus on processes, policies, and technologies that address threats to such transfers. In short, you need to evaluate the threat landscape to prioritize a treatment strategy.
If you’re unsure of your organization’s exposure to data security risks, send a confidential email to bTrade requesting a free 60-minute consultation. In addition, you may be interested in reviewing the data security features present in our managed file transfer solution, secureXchange. secureXchange offers multiple secure transfer protocols, including those most IT professionals prefer—AS2, SFTP, FTPS and HTTPS—as well as industry-leading encryption algorithms to safeguard sensitive data. In fact, our encryption module has been certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology under its Federal Information Processing Standard (“FIPS”) 140-2, which is required for transmitting data to and from the agencies and departments of both the U.S. and Canadian governments.