Look for us on
Elliem Consulting
  • Home
    • Covid-19
  • About Us
  • What we do
    • Auditing
    • Training
    • Mentoring
    • Career Counselling
  • Books
  • Our Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Links
  • Our Policies
  • Doodles!
  • Small Business Saturday Video

Data Security

6/21/2013

 
An interesting piece from Workplace Daily Law:

The UK’s largest information security firm, Shred-it, has warned that SMEs in the UK are putting their own businesses at risk and could also be damaging larger firms they supply services to by not taking sufficient care of  confidential data. 

Its new research reveals that SMEs are not taking enough care when managing and disposing of documents and hard drives, and Shred-it has urged  larger businesses in the UK to help SMEs they work with to improve their  information security measures in order to maintain the integrity of their supply  chain. 

Commenting on its findings, Robert Guice, Vice President Shred-it EMEA, said:

“It’s good business sense for larger companies to ask whether their suppliers have a data protection partner and an information security  system in place – not only to prevent sensitive information being lost by a
third party but also because the financial and reputational damage of a breach  could put that supplier out of business and cause havoc in the supply  chain.”

This, the third annual ‘Security Tracker’, also suggests that  despite the threat of severe fines and reputational damage, SMEs still do not  feel that a data breach would have a material impact on their
business.

 Mr Guice added:

 “SMEs continue to hugely underestimate the potential cost of a  data breach to them. In terms of financial loss, the Information Commissioner’s  Office in the UK can fine companies up to half a million pounds, enough to send  many companies into insolvency.

“We believe that smaller companies maybe over-estimating the  costs involved in making sure confidential information is kept  safe.”

The Shred-it survey also revealed that two in every five large  businesses prosecuted for a data breach have suffered losses of more than  £500,000 and that the average fine is approximately £150,000.

 Mr Guice continued:

“Whilst larger companies may be able to absorb this cost, SMEs  risk a huge hit to their bottom line and a tarnished reputation which can impact  relationships with customers and other business partners.”

According to Shred-it, there is a worrying gap between the  procedures in place between smaller and larger companies. It stated that while  companies with revenue over £1m are eight times more likely to use a
professional shredding company to dispose of their sensitive documents, 37% of  small businesses in the UK have no information security management system in  place.  Furthermore, the survey revealed that 28% of small business owners have never provided any information security training to their  employees.

Another key finding of the research was that 77% of larger  businesses have an employee directly responsible for managing information  security issues at management level (66%) or board level (11%). In comparison,  only 48% of SMEs do.


Comments are closed.

    Author

    thoughts on current business issues
    from a quality
    professional!

    Archives

    August 2018
    March 2018
    May 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Contact us
          ©  Elliem Ltd 2013
Photo used under Creative Commons from scott1723