Keep Your Information on the Right Side of the Balance Sheet
Everyone’s heard the old balance sheet equation from Accounting 101, assets minus liabilities equals equity, right? Well did you know that your information, if not properly managed, can actually be a liability?
Keep reading to gain some insight into how to keep your information on the assets side of the balance sheet, and keep your customers (and your accounting department) from seeing red.
Information Minus Management Equals Losses
In our Disaster Recovery post from February 27th, we emphasized that evaluation and strategy are crucial to preventing disaster. In an article titled “The True Cost of a Data Breach,” which originally appeared on www.bankinfosecurity.com, the head of Akamai’s Threat Advisory Services Group (Terrence O’Connor) seems to agree with us. O’Connor reminds us that “We need to understand in dollars: What are our assets, and then what is the impact if we lose those assets?”
But we’re not just talking about time and money spent recovering from a loss of business information and records. What if vital information – or even worse, clients’ personal information – is stolen? The answer is simple. Your business will suffer in multiple ways, and at the end of the day, clients will move their accounts to another service provider.
Don’t Get Left Empty-Handed
SafeNet’s Andrew Gertz shares the findings of the SafeNet Global Consumer Sentiment Survey in an article from SafeNet’ssite “The Art of Data Protection,” to illuminate the true cost of a data breach:
“Of the 4,500 adults surveyed in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, and Australia, 37 percent of respondents said they would never or would be very unlikely to shop or do business again with a company that had experienced a data breach involving personally identifiable information. Additionally, if financial data was stolen in the breach, that number of dissatisfied and potentially lost customers increased to 65 percent of respondents.”
“By Failing to Prepare, You Are Preparing to Fail”
In the wise words of Benjamin Franklin, preparation for all types of scenarios is vital to any organization. Take it from ARMA (the Association of Records Managers and Administrators), who are the authors of this excerpt from “Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles®“:
“Records and recordkeeping are inextricably linked with any organized activity. It is only through the information an organization records in the normal course of business that it can know what it has done and effectively plan what it will do in the future. As a key resource in the operation of any organization, records must be created, organized, secured, maintained, and used in a way that effectively supports the activity of that organization, including:
- Facilitating and sustaining day-to-day operations
- Supporting predictive activities such as budgeting and planning
- Assisting in answering questions about past decisions and activities
- Demonstrating and documenting compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and standards”
We’re Here to Help
Not sure if your organization has an adequate grip on its information? Not sure where to begin? Download our free information security white paper or contact us for a free assessment today. Our expert staff will be able to identify and remedy the telltale threats to your information security as well as operational inefficiencies which could be capping your earning potential.