So 2005 has gone down as the worst year for data security breaches. I suppose the good news is that we seemed to be less troubled by viruses, so either the virus developers have got bored, or our anti virus technology has got better, or maybe we’re simply not aware of them – remember the incident earlier in the summer of 2005.

The question is whether 2005 has been particularly bad for data breaches, or it’s the case that more organisations own up to indiscretions. After all the consequences for being found out are now a lot more serious than admitting to a problem. At our company, Cyber-Ark, we think about these things all the time, of course.

It seems like almost every month last year, some organization or other was admitting to backup tapes being misplaced. They were either falling of the back of Lorries, motorbikes, getting lost in warehouses, disappearing when entrusted to some courier service or other.

In the UK, the Inland Revenue lost a computer disc, sent by the bank, which contained address and account details of the banks investors, and apparently they are still looking for the disc. In Japan, millions of credit card details were stolen. In fact the stories go on and on. The potential seriousness for your business was quantified by the department of Trade and Industry, which said that 70 percent of organisations that experience serious data loss go out of business within 18 months. So looking on the bright side, the UK may become a tax haven during 2006!

An organization should never underestimate the potential damage in case of exposure or loss of confidential data. This is the reason why most businesses takes great care to ensure that the physical media is protected in physical safes with dual control procedures. And in some cases these physical security measures are even enforced by formal regulations.