Is your business leaking data?

Businesses face unprecedented levels of compliance and legislation. The level of trust in business is under severe strain, never more so than in the immediate wake of the banking crisis. The FSA is cracking down on breaches of that trust by imposing heavy fines on companies operating poor data protection. Increased privacy and protection legislation (such as the Data Protection, Electronic Communications and Companies Acts) mean companies have a legal duty to protect confidential data, and to ensure that it is stored and handled safely. They are also under significant pressure from customers (as well as legal bodies) to respond to the issues of lack of trust and transparency.

Yet the threat of confidential information leaking from an organisation is higher than it has ever been. Data security breaches have more than doubled in 2008 from 2007, and the opportunities for information to be copied, stolen, lost, hacked, or mishandled continue to rise.

Businesses have a greater number of communications channels available to them than ever before, often using IM, social media, web-based applications as well as more traditional voice and email to communicate and share information. Most businesses also use complex customer relationship management (CRM) systems that increase employees’ access to data. With a rise in collaborative working tools comes increased risk. We are all aware of the physical security risks to businesses – theft, criminal activity and so on – and yet are leaving holes in our virtual security.

Autonomy’s Interaction Control Element (ICE), available from AVT Systems, prevents such data leaks, and is tangible evidence of a company’s commitment to data protection. It monitors and controls how information is viewed, shared, used and moved across all communication platforms, including voice, chat and IM, email, application and internet-based communications. For example, the system can spot if an employee is: copying files onto mobile media, or uploading to a web application beyond the company firewall; spending excessive time on a screen containing personal data; discussing personal customer information (over any channel) when the customer isn’t present; accessing (or attempting to access) restricted applications; or copying information from one application to another. It alerts the business to suspicious activity and can take appropriate action – for example, by masking or ‘muting’ sensitive data within a specified environment.

Autonomy’s ‘meaning-based’ computing approach means it understands the context of activity across different platforms. Activity across any channel can be recorded and archived (this can be triggered by suspicious activity) – useful in the event of an audit or enquiry.

As featured in London Business Matters, September 2009.  Publication for the London Chambers of Commerce