How Much is your Data Worth?

Many organizations use a bottom up approach to security. By implementing firewalls, passwords, anti-virus protection, and backups. Without fully knowing the value of their data, security systems may not be properly aligned with the needs of the organization.

Your data is at risk to many types of threats particularly information confidentiality, availability, and integrity. Imagine the costs involved if user departments had to recreate all data because the corrupted data was not recoverable. Insurance might help off-set some of the direct costs, but your organization will face many indirect costs, not only a failure to deliver products and services in a timely manner, but also the damage to your organization’s image and reputation.

By properly determining the value of your data, organizations implement a top down approach to security that provides the following benefits:

• Security is aligned with the needs of the organization
• Management support ensures that security is sufficiently funded
• Security dollars are allocated to the areas that benefit the organization the most
• The organization is better prepared to implement the necessary controls and safeguards

All it takes is one security breach to compromise your data. Network security audits help organizations identify, manage, and reduce their risks by ensuring the proper security controls are in place.