Businesses careless with sensitive info kept in file-sharing tools

Online collaboration application SharePoint has 160 million users from 75,000 organizations all over the world that use its services for more efficient team communication, among others. But how many of its customers, and others using file-sharing applications, have a strategy to prevent data loss? Sadly, not that many, according to research conducted by the Ponemon Institute. The survey was conducted on 1,403 respondents from the US, UK and Germany.

“SharePoint houses a vast amount of sensitive data, but organizations are not taking sufficient steps to keep it safe,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder, Ponemon Institute. “The pressure to be productive is causing employees to put sensitive data at risk. Security and SharePoint professionals must understand where this content resides and how it is accessed and shared.”

The findings show that, in the past two years, 49 percent of SharePoint users experienced at least one data breach. As many as 79 percent are not confident the file-sharing environments used can protect their data, while 59 percent are disappointed in the company strategy of dealing with sensitive data which is not properly secured and too visible.

While some organizations believe an increased budget in research and development, as well as hiring more specialists, could be the solution to their problems, 63 percent of respondents trust data loss prevention technologies to be more efficient in safeguarding sensitive data and preventing breaches. Most respondents were confident DLP integration with file-sharing applications could significantly reduce data breaches and enhance user experience.