Postiwyd Gan CBSA on Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Small to medium sized enterprises are not taking basic precautions when disposing of confidential documentation according to a recent survey, the Shred-it Information Security Tracker, conducted by IPSOS MORI.
The survey demonstrated that 59.8% of SME’s did not believe that the loss or theft of data from their organisation would impact their business: a worrying 10% increase from the previous survey.
Further results showed that:
• 22% of firms classify themselves as ‘not at all aware’ or ‘not very aware’ of their legal responsibility.
• 37% of firms admitted that they have never undertaken a review of their destruction procedures.
• 46.6% of firms do not have anyone specifically responsible for managing data security issues.
• 81.9% of firms use in-house shredding machines, but 72.2% do not have secure storage for documents prior to destruction.
The survey reports on what it describes as “an increasingly lax approach to secure document destruction despite the threat of huge fines and damaged reputation”.
To help businesses to better manage data protection issues we have provided a number of resources which may be of help; these include the full IPOS MORI report with recommendations to business, as well as links to the Welsh Government, Business 4 Wales web site, which provides a wealth of information on the subject.
Any business wanting further support should contact us on info@cbsa.org.uk