Making it Personal

With even more data flying in, around and out of networks, how do you make sure it's only seen by those it’s meant for?

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There can be no doubt, the world has changed.

The events of early 2020 has seen a new way of doing business, with a staggering increase in remote working. Businesses already on a controlled curve towards digital transformation are being forced to escalate progress towards that goal.

While everyone is feeling the pain, SMB's are feeling it more.

They have less resource, struggle to find the right skills and they don’t have the same budgets as the big guys to remain competitive. With over 99% of all UK businesses falling into the SMB category - around 5.7m in total - that's an awful lot of pain.

Top threats to sensitive data

Source: Ponemon Institute

54

Employee mistakes

31

System or process malfunction

29

Hackers

20

Malicious insiders

Smaller businesses face the same risks and have the same regulatory obligations as larger organisations, so addressing this sudden explosion in demand for more diverse networking comes with its own set of challenges.

Hacking is big business and the average cost to an SMB for a data breach ranges between £65K - £115K.

As businesses become more digital, the opportunities increase for cyber criminals to take advantage and steal our data.

Putting this into context, the most significant threat to the exposure of sensitive or confidential data, without doubt, is mistakes made by employees. Inadvertent exposure through mistakes and system malfunction, significantly outweigh those made by malicious insiders. The least likely threats to the exposure of sensitive or confidential data being government eavesdropping and lawful data requests.

Main Drivers for Using Encryption

54

Protecting customer information

52

Protecting IP

51

Protecting against specific, identified threats

There are some very good reasons why encryption matters and yet research shows evidential lack of uptake.

Data is valuable and needs to be protected, if not for your own benefit then most definitely for the protection of the people you deal with and whose details you hold. Loss of data, for whatever reason, has far reaching implications including brand reputation and hefty fines.

We’re seeing an avalanche of digital threats piggy-backing on the coronavirus pandemic and this site references some which range from accessing smartphone cameras, watching through laptop cameras and pilfering emails and texts.

Think for one minute about all the sensitive texts and emails your people have sent to each other since we started social distancing and tell us you’re not concerned. Now do you get the reasons for encryption?

Microsoft Office365 doesn’t offer enough protection

For many SMB’s, there’s a belief that Microsoft Office 365 is the solution, with its world leading suite of technologies providing all they need to keep emails and sensitive data safe. Yet this is just not the case and most SMB’s remain unaware of the risks they face.

But it’s not all gloom, there are a number of affordable options that work with Microsoft and other products to give a higher protection, with encryption included to make your company’s most sensitive data for your eyes only.

Right now, some vendors are offering SMBs no fuss, no commitment, no contract trials for up to 90 days, so they’re definitely worth investigation.

Or, if you’d like to learn more about how encryption can keep your data more secure, we can put you in touch with a number of carefully selected specialist companies who’ll provide free assessment and advise accordingly.