Where Do You Fall Within the Data Protection Divide?

By Ken Allen, Ipswitch File Transfer

Ipswitch recently conducted a survey of more than100 IT professionals unveiling that employees feel an overwhelming sense of personal responsibility to protect corporate information or data. While accountability was high (84 percent) from an individual standpoint, 42 percent of respondents indicated that their organization does not mandate methods for securely transferring corporate files or have an automated system in place to mitigate the risk of human error.

The numbers would indicate that a lack of corporate oversight has had a critical impact on business operations for many companies; 18 percent of respondents report they have lost files containing sensitive information, 11 percent have spent more than an hour trying to retrieve missing files, and 10 percent have lost files completely after spending significant time looking for them. Lost or misdirected data has the potential to cost organizations both from a monetary and compliance standpoint.

A few additional findings:

– 15 percent cite that while their organizations do have a process/method in place for transferring information, employees “go rogue” and regularly work around them,

– 10 percent report that file transfer methods have caused their organization to be out of compliance with a regulation or corporate policy,

– 33 percent liken their file transfer process to a library: Files are kept in one place for people to find them,

– And for 16 percent of respondents, it is like a mediocre delivery service: Files are tracked inconsistently.

So, where does your organization fall within the data protection divide? If there is a lack of corporate oversight of file transfer processes, it might be time to consider a managed file transfer solution. You can find out more about the results in the infographic below. I look forward to your questions and comments!