I’m quite convinced people who work for companies that protect their private data and do not allow it to be easily lost or stolen are happier. And I’ll explain why!

I work in such a company. This company uses software that ensures protection against confidential data theft, so no company data leaves the network. No data leaks means no financial loss on this side. No loss means stable revenue, investments in the growth of the company, which translates into a job that is secure, bigger salaries, more employees.

And even if money doesn’t buy us happiness, it is obvious that an employee who doesn’t worry much about tomorrow is more relaxed, more productive, in a better mood and finally happier.
So, a CEO and a CIO who want to add more value to their business, who want to reduce loss and increase revenue, who want more productive and happier employees will invest in a solution to protect their company against data theft and leakage.

What do you think? Can protecting a company’s confidential data make us happier?

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, they’re all making their way into day to day corporate life. Users share information, sometimes too much, with others. While denying the value of online networking or its potential of driving new business your way is not our goal – we do use this blog, Twitter and Facebook! – the threat is very real and it’s there. As in all things data security related, it’s either an external threat or an inside one. It’s either malware targeting social media sites, or it’s your employees who, out of lack of proper training or attention, or worse, knowingly and willingly, post classified information on such sites.

Photo credit.

How to prevent it? The see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil method is the first one you should stop thinking about. You can’t shut this door, we’ve stated this before, it might be crucial to growing your business. Restrict access through limited time and limited networks? Highly irrelevant. It takes a couple of seconds to post, and no matter how restrictive you are, information can spread through other users.

I was reading a Dark Reading article on the matter the other day. They quoted a survey conducted in February by Sophos showing that 62.8% of companies were concerned that employees were sharing too much information on social networks, while 66% believed employees using social networking sites endanger corporate security.

Very true! And what can you do? The solution is threefold. First, take care of the files your employees show. Make sure you restrict access to them. A white listing system would probably help you. This is only a temporary fix. Then, educate your staff. Tell them what’s fair game and what isn’t. And then, you should really start monitoring their moves. There’s a fourth solution: pray for the best outcome

Data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office has recently confirmed that it has served enforcement notices on two UKgovernmental institutions, HM Revenue and Customs and the Ministry of Defence.  The decision, made public in the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas’ annual report comes as a response to high profile data breaches occurring within the twe organizations.

According to IT Week, both departments will be compelled to provide progress reports detailing how they are improving data governance practices.

This piece of news comes shortly after the same office called for European data protection laws to be reformed to make them more business-friendly. The recommendation was made by the same Richard Thomas at the annual Privacy Laws and Business conference in Cambridge. Thomas said existing legislation was out-dated and increasingly ill-suited to the internet age.