<b><i>Online Extra:</b></i> U.S. and UK Corporations Sustain High Levels of Digital Vulnerabilities

If there is any major concern corporations bear this year having watched last year's round of large-scale, invasive, expensive data hacks, it is the one of cyber security. As the digital landscape extends itself across both consumer and commercial realms, corporations have much at stake in terms of retaining sensitive data, identity data, and customer data. In 2015, Centrify ' an identity management company ' surveyed more than 400 IT decision makers in the U.S. and UK to grasp the scope of how secure they believe they are and should be. The group asked: How much are hackers costing organizations that don't make the front page like Sony?

Centrify'uncovered'a few alarming statistics: 53% of U.S. respondents said it would be at least somewhat easy for a former employee to still log in and access data. In the UK, the number is 32%. That fact leaves large holes for vulnerability, secure access, and visibility gap. With half of respondents noting that it can take up to a week or more to remove access to sensitive systems, those figures point to a great need for the securing the digital perimeters of a company ' particularly regarding employees who might still have access to sensitive data.

In terms of hard cost, Centrify found that organizations are far more vulnerable than they want to admit. Fifty-five percent of U.S. respondents said their organizations had been breached in the past, and 44% had breaches that collectively cost millions of dollars. Forty-five percent of UK respondents said their organizations had been breached in the past, and 35% had breaches that cost millions of dollars.

In order to go about remedying these vulnerabilities and ensuring the secure borders of a company's digital operations, IT managers have begun to raise the red flags. Unfortunately, in many instances, those managers' calls go either unheard or unheeded. Forty-eight percent of U.S. and 30% of UK respondents said that they have had to fight their organizations for stricter protocols. Forty-two percent of U.S. and 27% of UK respondents said they have lost the battle for stricter protocols. And 28% of U.S. and 40% of UK respondents said security isn't getting enough attention. So, despite the clear and present danger, adequate measures are not being taken to insure against any sort of data breach, much less large-scale, expensive ones.

It goes without saying that these findings have all sorts of negative effects for corporations as technological hacking increases with severity and volume while companies remain behind or stagnant on implementing tech to insure against breaches. We watch the effects of a data breach on a company's financial line and reputation every time a high-profile one hits the news. For those companies who aren't as big-name as Sony, it's past time to comprehend and act on the threat of cyber breaches.

'

– Juliana Kenny, Lawtech News

If there is any major concern corporations bear this year having watched last year's round of large-scale, invasive, expensive data hacks, it is the one of cyber security. As the digital landscape extends itself across both consumer and commercial realms, corporations have much at stake in terms of retaining sensitive data, identity data, and customer data. In 2015, Centrify ' an identity management company ' surveyed more than 400 IT decision makers in the U.S. and UK to grasp the scope of how secure they believe they are and should be. The group asked: How much are hackers costing organizations that don't make the front page like Sony?

Centrify'uncovered'a few alarming statistics: 53% of U.S. respondents said it would be at least somewhat easy for a former employee to still log in and access data. In the UK, the number is 32%. That fact leaves large holes for vulnerability, secure access, and visibility gap. With half of respondents noting that it can take up to a week or more to remove access to sensitive systems, those figures point to a great need for the securing the digital perimeters of a company ' particularly regarding employees who might still have access to sensitive data.

In terms of hard cost, Centrify found that organizations are far more vulnerable than they want to admit. Fifty-five percent of U.S. respondents said their organizations had been breached in the past, and 44% had breaches that collectively cost millions of dollars. Forty-five percent of UK respondents said their organizations had been breached in the past, and 35% had breaches that cost millions of dollars.

In order to go about remedying these vulnerabilities and ensuring the secure borders of a company's digital operations, IT managers have begun to raise the red flags. Unfortunately, in many instances, those managers' calls go either unheard or unheeded. Forty-eight percent of U.S. and 30% of UK respondents said that they have had to fight their organizations for stricter protocols. Forty-two percent of U.S. and 27% of UK respondents said they have lost the battle for stricter protocols. And 28% of U.S. and 40% of UK respondents said security isn't getting enough attention. So, despite the clear and present danger, adequate measures are not being taken to insure against any sort of data breach, much less large-scale, expensive ones.

It goes without saying that these findings have all sorts of negative effects for corporations as technological hacking increases with severity and volume while companies remain behind or stagnant on implementing tech to insure against breaches. We watch the effects of a data breach on a company's financial line and reputation every time a high-profile one hits the news. For those companies who aren't as big-name as Sony, it's past time to comprehend and act on the threat of cyber breaches.

'

– Juliana Kenny, Lawtech News