Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Economic Slump Could Result in Significantly Less Information Protection

By Oliver David


Even though the latest economic indicators show movement toward a healthier economy than in the past four years, the overall well being of the United States and world economy remains in the realm of recession territory.

During any recession or economic down cycle, many businesses make decisions to cut back on various line items in their operating budgets. Often times these cuts are made to areas that are considered support or not key to the every day operation of the business. One such area that is often looked at as a “back office” function is data protection. The UK Information Commission Office made an announcement recently to put businesses on notice that data protection could be “under threat” in a continuing economic downturn.

The Commission head, Cristopher Graham stated that “those dealing with information security and access to information are under real pressure, hit by the double whammy of increasing demands for information from citizens and consumers on the one hand and reduced resourcing on the other”. He added, “Businesses under pressure in the downturn must be tempted to cut corners and push boundaries. That’s a bad call, since the first casualty of a big data breach is going to be a brand’s reputation. Consumers will abandon companies that disrespect their privacy.”

With these choices becoming produced on an nearly daily basis throughout an economic downturn, it's essential for CFOs and CIOs to perform well together. CFOs ought to work as a facilitator to assist various people manage and take part in the requirement of information security. CFOs comprehend that information breaches can impact the company’s net profit each because of elevated expenses to keep track of and secure information, but additionally with elevated insurance coverage, possible damage claims and lawsuits as well as intangible harm towards the company’s consumer trust.

Understanding the reducing expenses within the information protection area might wind up costing the business much more revenue in the long run can also be an essential point for CFOs to know in a slump. This enables the CIO to provide beneficial info to the CFO and also have them as a good partner in determining what kinds of systems and safety measures to get in place over information. The CIO’s function would be to clarify how an investment can save the business cash and just how it'll affect the company.

Hardware authentication is one way to protect data.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment