News
Don’t wait 20 years to Protect Your Data: Act Now
February 2013 by Colin Tankard, Managing Director of Digital Pathways
There is no need to wait 20 years for a cyber specialist to protect your – and your clients’ – data, use a managed encryption service and act now.
So says Colin Tankard, Managing Director of Digital Pathways, a data security company that offers a managed encryption service.
“ In a recent press article The National Audit Office (NAO), warned that it could take ‘up to 20 years’ to fill the skills gap in the cyber security field and that the cost of cyber crime to the UK is currently estimated to be between £18 billion and £27 billion a year” says Tankard.
“But this does not mean that there are no solutions available for protecting data now. A managed encryption service provides the technology to secure the data and audits who or what has accessed it. In the Digital Pathways solution we also work with clients to define a security strategy, identify areas of weakness and develop a compliance matrix to meet the various regulations a company might face.
“ So, for example, a hospitality organisation might need to be PCI compliant so we could install the equipment they need to encrypt the data, run reports to confirm the organisation is protecting the data and send this to all within the organisation who need to know as well as conducting regular policy reviews to ensure continued compliance - all within a monthly fee.”
According to Amyas Morse, Head of the NAO, the threat to cyber security is persistent and continually evolving. Business must play its part in ensuring that robust encryption is installed to protect data and that separation of duty is in place.
“Encryption is seen as being an expensive “would like to” element of the data strategy. In today’s environment I would say that encryption is a ‘must have’.
“I accept that for smaller organisations cost and lack of skill base may well be difficult and that is where a managed encryption service comes into its own.
“It covers all the encryption needs both for data in transit and at rest, including encryption of emails and their attachments, and encryption of databases and storage backups, covering both structured and unstructured data sources. Once encrypted the data is monitored and concise reports can be generated on who accessed the data and when. These reports can be used when a audit is conducted or access to the raw data can be provided even providing specialist support to work with the Auditor to gather all the information required. This effectively makes Digital Pathways as the inhouse IT security department for the organisation”
“And, is cost effective and a manageable” adds Tankard.
Don’t wait, ensure you have done all you can to properly protect your data now.
