Many Companies Rely on Insecure Methods for Sharing Data

Despite being aware of the security risks that it represents, a majority of respondents in a new survey indicated that their businesses rely primarily on email, rather than secure file transfer methods, to exchange large and sensitive data with clients and partners.

Market research firm Harris Interactive surveyed more than 1,000 IT decision-makers from around the globe with the intention of discerning trends regarding businesses' methods for sharing data. The survey found that 68 percent of respondents predominantly rely on email for purposes of sharing important data. Additionally, many utilized consumer-grade file transfer protocol (FTP) sites, rather than those designed specifically for businesses.

Despite these habits, survey respondents indicated that they were cognizant of the risks inherent to these methods. They were largely aware that malware (69 percent) and information theft (63 percent) are potential problems associated with using email and free FTP sites to share sensitive data.

However, these are not the sole security issues affecting email and FTP data sharing. Free FTP sites, while convenient, do not provide organizations with easy means of monitoring the data that is being shared or who has access to it.

As numerous security experts have argued, a lack of oversight and control in regards to critical information is a recipe for disaster for any business. Studies have found that employee negligence is among the most common causes of data loss, either through ignorance of proper data loss prevention protocols or carelessness during implementation.

To improve security, companies should consider adopting more sophisticated methods of secure file transfer. These services offer businesses the ability to more carefully monitor the information that employees share with each other and third parties, while defending against malware and other cybersecurity threats.