There are few organizations not acutely aware of the massive number of data breaches that are occurring all around them – whether that be within an enterprise just down the block from them or one on the other side of the global. Only go on your laptop, mobile device, pick up a newspaper or switch on the television news, and you will be subjected to the full, lurid details of one disastrous invasion after another.
Mostly, it is the big players that are featured but these are just the eye-catchers and represent a small fraction of the total number of victims of a data breach – one that is constantly rising, as the 2016 Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) makes painfully clear:
- A New Zero-Day Vulnerability Discovered Each Week
- Half a Billion Personal Records Stolen or Lost
- Vulnerabilities Found in Three Quarters of Websites
- Spear-Phishing Campaigns Targeting Employees Increased 55 Percent
- 100 Million Fake Technical Support Scams Blocked
And yet it doesn’t have to be like this. Data breaches of this nature are preventable by having the right encryption controls in place. The fact that so many enterprises fail to implement these controls in today’s increasingly hostile breach environment beggars’ belief. They need only consider the negative impacts to any organization that experiences such a breach.
First, if the organization did not have a control in place, like encryption, when they experienced a data breach, then that organization is required to notify their governing agencies and the victims. This leads to media coverage and the inevitable ‘naming and shaming’ that goes with this. This can lead to a tarnished reputation, which impacts current and future business opportunities.
Also, there are many financial downsides associated with data breaches. For example, the average cost to recover from a data breach is $3.79 million. This does not include future potential costs from a damaged brand etc. Equally, ‘lost time and productivity’ is another major price to be paid.
Equally, compliance figures largely where data breaches occur. There are privacy laws and security regulations in place to help prevent the negative impacts of data breaches. There are audits that occur to ensure your organization is compliant and there are audits that occur after an organization experiences a data breach. If certain measures were not taken, these organizations are required to pay fines, and notify governing bodies and their victims.
So, what does encryption offer that removes organizations from this nightmarish scenario? It delivers two main benefits:
- It protects sensitive data or information, wherever it resides – whether it is at rest or in motion
- It helps ensure that organization is compliant with data privacy and/or security regulations.
That’s exactly what Symantec Endpoint Encryption delivers. And now, with the release of Symantec Endpoint Encryption 11.1.1, the best of PGP and GuardianEdge encryption solutions has been married into a single, robust platform, while coverage has been expanded to meet the on-going and ever-changing needs of enterprises, including some of the largest entities in the federal, banking and healthcare verticals.
For more details about Symantec Endpoint Encryption go here.