IT firms report widespread data risks

Firms are offloading data risk to IT providers, according to a new survey by data research institute Ponemon and governance software provider Aveksa

WALTHAM, MA & TRAVERSE, MI – IT providers are not being given enough information to mitigate the data risks of their clients, says a new study by data research institute Ponemon commissioned by governance software firm Aveksa.

The study, The 2008 National Survey on Access Governance, questioned 700 US IT practitioners on their information management relationships with their clients – the two largest employers being the financial services industry (21%) and government institutions (18%).

The survey says 78% of respondents thought employees are granted access to data for which they have no need, with inadequate tools in place to inform and update IT providers of employees’ specific and often evolving responsibilities.

“The IT security organisations are judged on how quickly they deliver access. There’s no automated process to engage a business unit to regularly review users’ access to different information resources. They’re using a manual approach – spreadsheets and email – and it is very inefficient,” says Brian Cleary, Aveksa’s vice-president of marketing.

IT practitioners cannot easily automate policy enforcement and require collaboration to understand what information is relevant for user access. It is not the job of a bank’s IT team to understand what information is pertinent for a retail teller’s role, says Cleary.

“They are not regulatory compliance experts. They need audit, risk and compliance to create a better collaborative framework for governing access.”