Technology is not the biggest security problem: CompTIA
The IT industry association claimed that often, companies leave themselves vulnerable to information breaches despite technology, but said there are ways to lessen the risk.
CompTIA member communities vice-president, Jim Hamilton, said one of the areas where companies are leaving themselves vulnerable is through lack of security policies.
He claimed while all companies should have strong security policies across the business, in reality, many companies don't put policies in place until after a breach occurs.
"Awareness creates action, which is invaluable for tightening security. Companies should use policies to create awareness by routinely implementing, updating and communicating them, rather than waiting for a cyber security breach," he said.
According to Hamilton, implementing stringent policies can be hard to balance with ease of use and practicality especially since many employees use their own apps and devices at work, which can make the entire IT landscape much harder to manage.
"As organisations embrace Cloud computing and mobile technology solutions, they have extended the security perimeter, creating new considerations. And, with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) there are lots of devices built without the security of a corporate IT system," he said.
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In addition, Hamilton mentioned companies need to ensure their security systems and policies are keeping up as technology is moving fast.
"If they only do a security audit every five years it will become outdated very quickly. Companies also need to be more proactive about testing their resilience in this increasingly complex environment. People take risks to save time and money but, if something happens, they could lose significantly more than they saved," he said.
Hamilton also addressed the need for companies to make employees part of the solution.
"Human error is often the cause of issues with data security due to carelessness, failure to follow policies and failure to get up to speed on new threats. Clearly, more training is required for employees. Fully-certified personnel are by nature more vigilant but security now must be a concern for everyone, and training should follow suit," he added.