Survey Finds Organizations Unable to Block All Sensitive Data Sent Electronically by Employees According to Palisade Systems and Dr. Doug Jacobson of Iowa State University.

Consumers' Personally Identifiable Information and Organizations' Proprietary Data Most at Risk When Employers Do Not Monitor All 140 Plus Network Communication Channels Their Employees Could Use to Maliciously or Accidentally Send Sensitive Information

AMES, Iowa, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Palisade Systems, a leading provider of content and network security appliances, announced today a national study that surveyed 171 organizations in the government, university and commercial sectors concerning internal threats to their customers' sensitive data as well as their own proprietary information. The purpose of the survey, one of the first of its kind to address all network communication risks employees or trusted insiders could pose within an organization, was to determine how significant internal threats such as employees and trusted insiders are to sensitive data an organization is storing, sending and/or accessing. Furthermore, the survey went on to determine what, if any, technology the organizations were using to not only monitor all outbound network communication, but block any communication that contains sensitive data. The survey discovered that none, 0%, of organizations surveyed, are utilizing any technology to block network communications that contain sensitive data.

As a security solutions provider, Palisade Systems has always been aware of potential threats posed by internal users (employees and contractors) on a network who are accessing, storing, and/or sending sensitive data. In a study that analyzed how organizations protect customer's sensitive data, Palisade found that the vast majority of companies can monitor, but not block, sensitive content flowing out of the network by e-mail, Instant Messaging, Web Mail, or other applications that communicate outside the network.

 
  Breakdown of survey participants 
 
  Number of Network Users    Response Percent        Response Total 
  1 - 100                         12.3%                    21 
  101 - 500                       14.6%                    25 
  501 - 1000                      13.5%                    23 
  1,001 - 5,000                   26.9%                    46 
  5001 - 10,000                    9.9%                    17 
  Above 10,000                    22.8%                    39 
 
 

The organizations that participated in the study represent a cross section of American companies, universities, and government institutions/agencies. Some findings from the study include: