Information security personnel are challenged with protecting company reputation and enterprise and customer data from a constant and expanding barrage of cyber criminals.
I recently read an excellent study about the impact of security and privacy on brand reputation and customer loyalty. I was looking for some solid analytical data to prove my strong belief that security can be a "competitive advantage or differentiator." This study, "Secure the Trust of Your Brand," published by The CMO [chief marketing officer] Council, corroborates my convictions regarding the importance of security. It is worth downloading and showing all executives (www.cmocouncil.org).
As we are all aware, there has been a rash of reported privacy breaches recently. This likely is because not only is our enterprise data more transient and mobile, but we are having increasing difficulty controlling where that data goes and what controls, if any, go with that data. And that assumes that we actually know where our data is, and who is doing what with it. The sad truth: information security professionals often do not know the location of their enterprises' data.