Employees regarded as an organisation's greatest asset but also one of the biggest data security risks

What's keeping IT professionals awake at night? Data storage, data access and data sharing

READING, United Kingdom, July 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IT professionals believe that compliance and regulation and the unpredictable behaviour of employees will have the biggest impact on data security according to a new Concensus survey* commissioned by independent global data security specialist, HANDD Business Solutions (HANDD).

The findings are launched alongside HANDD's new Advisory Paper - 'Securing the Journey of Your Data' - which tackles the issue of data protection and provides organisations with an insight into the challenges and solutions associated with securing data on its journey through the enterprise.

The survey of 304 IT professionals in the UK shows that 21 per cent of respondents say regulations, legislation and compliance will be one of the two greatest business challenges to impact data security. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is causing real concern among professionals in their bid to be compliant by the deadline, less than 12 months away. GDPR will not only raise the privacy bar for companies across the EU, but will also impose extra data protection burdens on them.

HANDD CEO and Co-Founder Ian Davin commented: "Companies must change their mindset and look at data, not as a fungible commodity, but as a valuable asset. Data is more valuable than a pot of gold, which puts companies in a challenging position as the stewards of that data. C-suite executives must understand the data protection challenges they face and implement a considered plan and methodical approach to protecting sensitive data."

Worryingly, 41 per cent of those surveyed assign the same level of security resources and spend for all company data, regardless of its importance. Analysing and documenting the characteristics of each data item is a vital part of its journey through an organisation. A robust data classification system will see all data tagged with markers defining useful attributes, such as sensitivity level or a retention requirement and ensuring that an organisation understands completely which data requires greater levels of protection.