Research: 90% of Firms Still Non-Compliant

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- The IT Policy Compliance Group today announced the availability of its latest benchmark research report titled “Why Compliance Pays: Reputations and Revenues at Risk.” According to the report, nine in ten firms are exposed to financial risk from data loss and theft. These risks, which can cost organizations customers, reduced revenues and even a decline in share price, could be significantly reduced by implementing core procedural and technical controls and monitoring those controls at least once every two weeks.

Among larger enterprises, the probability of a publicly disclosed data loss is likely once every three years if the firm is currently operating as a laggard. In contrast, organizations with the best results have delayed the probability of data loss to once in every 42 years. The benchmarks show that the organizations excelling at compliance are the same firms with the least data losses and the least business disruptions from IT downtime.

“The vast majority of businesses and public institutions are still struggling with high rates of annual compliance deficiencies, resulting in business disruption, data loss and theft,” said James Hurley, principal research manager, Symantec Corp. and managing director, IT Policy Compliance Group. “While the probability of data loss and business disruption occurring in an organization is less a matter of ‘if’ than ‘when,’ there are a number of compliance, risk and governance practices that, if implemented correctly, could significantly reduce the frequency and impact of these events.”

IT Policy Compliance Group, USA