FEATURE
New insights from the 2020 Thales
Europe Data Threat Report reveal that
European organisations have a false
sense of security when it comes to
protecting themselves, with only twothirds
(68%) seeing themselves as
vulnerable, down from nine in 10 (86%)
in 2018.
This confidence flies in the face of the
findings of the survey of 509 European
executives which reveals over half (52%)
of organisations were breached or failed
a compliance audit in 2019, raising
concerns as to why a fifth (20%) intend
to reduce data security spend in the
next year. The findings come as workers
across Europe are working from home
due to COVID-19, often using personal
devices that don’t have the built-in
security office systems do, significantly
increasing risk to sensitive data.
Across the board, companies are racing
to digitally transform and move more
applications and data to the cloud;
two-fifths (37%) of European countries
stated they are aggressively disrupting
the markets they participate in or
embedding digital capabilities to enable
greater enterprise agility. A key aspect
of this transformation is in the cloud
becoming the leading data environment.
Nearly half (46%) of all data stored by
European organisations is now stored in
the cloud, and with 43% of that data in
the cloud being described as sensitive, it
is essential that it is kept safe.
As more sensitive data is stored in cloud
environments, however, data security
John Beattie, Principal Consultant at
Sungard Availability Services
risks increase. This is of particular
concern given that 100% of businesses
surveyed report that at least some of
the sensitive data they are storing in
the cloud is not encrypted. Only 54% of
sensitive data in the cloud is protected
by encryption and even less (44%) is
protected by tokenisation, highlighting
the disconnect between the level of
investment companies are making into
cybersecurity and the increasing threats
they face.
John Beattie, Principal Consultant at
Sungard Availability Services, tells us
how companies can start off on the
right foot when it comes to bolstering
their cybersecurity posture and
preventing data loss.
The number of
active cybersecurity
firms in the UK has
increased 44%
from 2017, making
the UK’s booming
cybersecurity sector
worth £8.3 billion.
Cyberattacks are depicted in popular
culture with scenes of utter panic.
There’s feverish typing, a series of hectic
phone calls and computer screens
flashing or shutting off. They are, in fact,
a reality for many businesses in the
UK. The scenes of utter panic may be
exaggerated on screen, but the impact
on real-life organisations is scary.
On the surface, post breach customer
protection, cybersecurity improvements,
regulatory fines and PR costs for
reputation restoration are all tangible
and quantifiable costly impacts of an
attack. However, there are many more
intangible costs, including value of lost
potential contract revenue; devaluation
of reputation and lost value of customer
relationships which are harder to equate
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