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Global data loss costs €1.3 trillion every year

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Image: EMC

2 December 2014

Global businesses lose over €1.3 trillion every year due to data loss and downtime, according to a new study by EMC. The Data Protection Index, which assessed 3,300 organisations with over 250 employees in 24 countries, found that while data loss incidents were decreasing overall, the volume of data lost had increased by 400% since 2012, with many businesses saying that they were unprepared for the new era of mobile, cloud and Big Data.

Some 64% of businesses surveyed experienced data loss or downtime in the last 12 months. The average business experienced more than three working days (25 hours) of unexpected downtime in the last 12 months.

Other commercial consequences of disruptions were loss of revenue (36%) and delays to product development (34%). Over half (51%) of businesses admitted to lacking a disaster recovery plan for any of these consequences, while only 6% have a plan for all three.

A total of 62% said protecting their Big Data, mobile and hybrid cloud assets were difficult. Indeed, companies with three or more IT vendors lost three times as much data as those with a single vendor.

Speaking today at EMC Forum at the RDS in Dublin, Gerry Murray, Country Manager at EMC Ireland, said the Data Protection Index results showed that global businesses were not giving data security strategy proper attention: “The staggering losses suffered by global businesses each year are a real indicator that data protection is still a low priority.”

“Irish businesses, too, operate in an increasingly interconnected environment that poses serious threats to inadequately protected data. When data loss is criminal, most sophisticated hackers are easily able to circumvent less secure systems, or systems that are spread between business partners.

“There’s a real need for more intelligent security solutions that proactively monitor user behaviour for suspicious activity; and contain threats before they can cause real damage.

“The Data Protection Index also indicated that 71% of IT professionals are not fully confident in their ability to recover information following an incident. Irish businesses can safeguard their digital assets by constantly up-skilling their technical employees in new technology, or else risk irretrievable data loss and other serious business impacts.”

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