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A Third of Businesses Fail to Protect Sensitive Data Transfers
Ipswitch Inc.’s 2009 File Transfer Security Survey highlights weaknesses in the UK’s data infrastructure
Lexington, MA – – Ipswitch File Transfer division, a developer of comprehensive secure and managed file transfer solutions, and COMPUTERLINKS, a leading distributor of IT security and Internet technology solutions, today announced the results of their 2009 File Transfer Security Survey. The results of the study indicate huge disparities in attitudes towards data security and secure transfer: whilst 82% of organisations reported engagement in exchanges of sensitive data, only 64% encrypted their data at rest or in transfer.
“We know that even big banks still fail to encrypt all transfers of sensitive financial data,” notes Ipswitch Vice President, Research and Development, Jonathan Lampe, referring to a record £3.3 million fine handed down by the FSA, this month, to a major financial institution, for the loss of unencrypted data. “We commissioned this report to examine failings in the transfer of sensitive data across all business sectors, and we are still seeing a persistent minority failing to deal with sensitive data in a secure or compliant manner.”
Carly Loveday, e-business product manager at COMPUTERLINKS commented. “This research suggests that there are some excellent opportunities for the channel to deliver secure file transfer solutions, particularly within those industries that still don’t have an encryption strategy in place. COMPUTERLINKS’ partner programme and technical expertise can help resellers use this insight to develop these opportunities and in turn ensure organisations have the means to protect their sensitive data.”
In the engineering and heavy industry sectors, just 54% of respondents report encrypting sensitive data as part of their secure data transfer strategy, as opposed to 69% of respondents in health, education and government sectors. The IT sector is doing better, with 70% of respondents encrypting data, along with professional services (74%) and financial services (77.5%), where explicit and demanding regulations are in place from the FSA and Basel Committee, among others. Meanwhile, 50% of respondents in the wider economy do not actually have an encryption strategy in place.
“Factors driving IT professionals to improve data security include the need to comply with data security and privacy regulations, negative publicity, loss of customers and other indirect penalties, such as losses arising from breaches of commercial confidence. The minority who fail to deal securely with data transfers pose a risk to all those they do business with. Markets, as well as activist regulators and more demanding regulations, now make life increasingly hard for persistent offenders.”
The research is based on responses from over 300 businesses, and was conducted using Emedia bulletins. Respondents ranged from media organisations, magic circle law and accountancy firms, to national and local government, schools, hospitals banks, consultants and retailers. The full report is available online at http://www.computerlinks.co.uk/products/ipswitch/download_library.cfm
Key findings include:
- 22% of businesses in financial services do not encrypt data transfers
- 16% are still not confident that their arrangement for transferring large files is secure
- Over a third of respondents cite secure file transfer as a ‘high priority’, 24% see it as a ‘low priority’, and a third regard price as the most important criterion when implementing it
- Despite increasingly stringent regulation, including new rules for data protection and handling of financial data, only 6% recognise that this has presented short term implementation deadlines, whilst 49% either believe no improvements to secure transfer infrastructure are needed, or have placed improvements on hold
About Ipswitch File Transfer
Ipswitch File Transfer builds software to securely move your valuable data. The Ipswitch MOVEit® and WS_FTP® secure and managed file transfer solutions deliver the security and governance necessary to help enable compliance for our more than 40 million global users – including the majority of Fortune 1000 enterprises and government agencies. These organizations trust Ipswitch File Transfer solutions to secure, manage, automate and streamline their critical and highly-sensitive file transfers and data workflows. We invite you to learn more at http://www.ipswitchft.com or to contact us at http://www.ipswitchft.com/Company/Contact.aspx, or on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Ipswitch, Inc.
More than 100 million people worldwide use Ipswitch software to transfer files over the Internet using the market-leading WS_FTP® and MOVEit® brands of secure and managed file transfer clients and servers, monitor their networks with Ipswitch WhatsUp®, and communicate via Ipswitch IMailTM Server. Founded in 1991, the company is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, has Research & Development and Sales centers in Georgia and Wisconsin and a European sales and support office in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ipswitch sells its products through distributors, resellers and OEMs in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Visit http://www.ipswitchft.com for more information on the company.
About COMPUTERLINKS
COMPUTERLINKS is a leading distributor of IT security and Internet technology solutions, providing UK and Irish channel partners with reliable, supported solutions from world-leading hardware and software manufacturers. COMPUTERLINKS concentrates on the dynamic Internet technology areas of e-business and e-security, and the emerging area of IP Physical Security. It provides a comprehensive and complementary product portfolio, backed by an extensive range of professional services, to ensure channel partners deliver the right solutions to their customers. 100% committed to the two-tier channel, COMPUTERLINKS delivers profitable growth to partners and competitive advantage to their customers by providing a full-service package of technical, sales and marketing support, practical training and efficient logistics. For more information, visit www.computerlinks.co.uk
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Ipswitch, MOVEit, WhatsUp, and WS_FTP are registered trademarks of Ipswitch, Inc. IMail Server, MOVEit Central and MOVEit DMZ are trademarks of Ipswitch, Inc. All other product names are the property of their respective owners.
