[Dataloss] off-topic: repetitive breaches

[Al Mac Wheel]

This is a March 2007 report that I did not notice at the time.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2101733,00.asp

Almost seven out of 10 companies­68 percent­are losing sensitive data or 
having it stolen out from under them six times a year, according to new 
research from the IT Policy Compliance Group. An additional 20 percent are 
losing sensitive data a whopping 22 times or more per year.

[...]

Ninety percent of the organizations were located in the United States.

The good news to come out of the group's survey is that 12 percent of 
surveyed organizations are losing sensitive data less than twice each year.

[..]

The most sensitive losses are around customer data, financial data, 
corporate data, employee data and IT security data, according to the 
report, titled "Taking Action to Protect Sensitive Data."

[..]

the leading cause for data loss is user error.
Policy violations are the second leading cause,
but Internet threats, attacks and hacks only comes in at No. 3.

When it comes to how data vanished, lost devices topped the chart, 
including loss of PCs, laptops and mobile field devices.
The second most common channel of data loss was through e-mail, IM and 
other electronic means.
Software applications, including databases and the systems they work on, 
came in as the third most frequent channel through which data is being lost.

[..]

The cost on average to notify customers and to clean up and restore data 
was $100 per record.

+++++
Here is summary of the report.
You have to join the organization to download the whole thing 
http://www.itpolicycompliance.com/research_reports/data_protection/read.asp?ID=9
-
Al Mac