Western Digital - International Privacy Day

Western Digital recently published its report on the security habits of data managers and data users, which has come at a time when national security agencies are educating the public on how to manage their information and keep it secure.

The Seamless Security report from Western Digital, surveying data users and managers across Europe and the Middle East, found that:

• Nearly one in four employees think they may have put highly sensitive data at risk in the past 12 months

• 68% of data managers believe employee behaviour is a bigger threat to highly sensitive data than external hackers

• Only 37% of data users utilise HDDs and SSDs for sharing data

• There are some worrying conflicts elsewhere;

  • Email is the second most popular method of sharing, despite only 13% of data managers thinking this is the most secure/recommended way to work

Given that there is so much noise surrounding cybersecurity and privacy in both the workplace and now at home given the long-term hybrid work setup many UK companies have introduced it is key that the public take steps to protect their data.

Remote and hybrid working styles have exacerbated data storage and security challenges:

• 35% of data managers think employees lack the tools/technology to safeguard data at home, while 33% feel psychologically more ‘removed’ from risks while working remotely

• Although cloud is commonly used to share and store data, nine in ten (87%) say that data breaches and leaks are a significant or moderate concern