Majority of Companies Don't Audit File Ownership and Access

In recent study the institute polled 840 IT personnel with an average of 10 years of industry experience and found that the overwhelming majority admit that files stored on file servers are accessible by people with no need for such access.

Compounding matters further, 61 percent said they have no audit methods that let them know who does access such files. Ninety-one percent don't have a way to determine data ownership, and 76 percent don't have a way to determine who has access rights to files.

The institute sees the overall problem as a $3.15 billion market space waiting to be penetrated by vendors and solution providers that can offer adequate protection.

Not only is data on file servers unprotected but Ponemon also discovered that approximately 12,250 laptops are lost at US-based airports every week and only 33 percent are ever reclaimed.

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