Security – Who Can You Trust?

Unsurprisingly, the increase in data breaches brings with them increasing costs. Depending on their scale, the average per compromised record in 2018 was $148^* and the average total cost of a breach of just 10,000 records was $2.2m. Taking steps to minimise risk is good practise in protecting not just the bottom line.

Recently introduced laws take steps to address this. The GDPR was introduced in May 2018 to enforce how organisations protect and use data, carrying with it “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” administrative fines of €20 million or 4% of annual turnover, whichever is greater. Google was recently fined £44M for not playing by the new rules.

As consumers, this might just leave us crossing our fingers and hoping that we’ve made the right choices of network provider, dating site, or bank. But with such high risks how can you protect your organisation? You have control of the processes and security you have in place, but what about suppliers and those you partner with?

It’s not simple, when practically every company describes themselves as trustworthy. Proving it can take time, but there’s a quick way to identify those with the right credentials. Being certified to the international standard ISO 27001 means that an organisation has invested time and resources in managing and protecting their information assets. Achieving 27001, shows that an organisation can be trusted. It has procedures and processes in place to keep information safe and secure. It has identified where any risks could come from and has plans in place should an incident occur. And it has enhanced documentation and reporting to support this.

The value of having ISO 27001 is now beginning to be recognised, with a 19%** increase in organisations around the world seeing the benefits of certification; working to best practise, demonstrating your ability to handle information securely, protecting your reputation, and adding value to your business and supply chain.