// DBA—SECURITY SUPERHERO, 2014 IOUG Enterprise Data Security Survey

When it comes to data security, today’s enterprises are under assault as they never have been before. This year’s Russian hacker breach by “CyberVor” was the most visible example of sensitive data falling into the wrong hands, but this incident was only one of many—the news never stops. Data security has evolved into a top business challenge. The challenge continues to grow and the villains are taking advantage of lax preventive and detective measures.

Key highlights include the following:

• Enterprises recognize that data risks come from within, and continue to increase funding. However, close to half still release production data to outside parties, and more than one-fifth report sensitive data is still vulnerable to breaches.
• Two-fifths of respondents admit they are not fully aware of where all the sensitive data in their organizations is kept. Those taking proactive measures to lock down data and render it useless to outsiders are still in the minority. Relatively few have safeguards against accidental or intentional staff abuse.
• Organizations are still not doing enough to monitor their data assets or keep tabs on super-users. Only about one-third can prove abuse of data assets. In a world where stolen data can be distributed globally within seconds,” two-thirds of managers estimate that it would take a matter of days to remediate a breach, or simply don’t know what length of time would be involved.
•  Data security audits still remain few and far between. Only one-sixth review their data assets on at least a monthly basis.