Data loss and theft is nothing new. High profile losses have included personally identifiable data, medical records, credit card and financial information, and a host of other corporate data. Recent high profile losses by the Veteran's Administration. Monster.com, and Fidelity National Information Services highlight the ease with which confidential data can be lost or stolen.

A new survey by the Ponemon Institute [Warning: PDF link] shows that nearly three-fourths of all companies have experienced data loss in the past 24 months, but the same companies have made only meager efforts to secure data and prevent future losses. Major data losses are most likely to occur when data are taken off the network. Laptops, remote computing, USB drives, removable hard disks and similar equipment allow data to be removed from the network in an insecure way. Once data are off the network, it is difficult, if not impossible to keep them secure.

The report, entitled The Insecurity Of Off-network Security, shows that more than 60 percent of respondents don't know if off-network equipment even contains confidential data; nearly 40 percent do not view off-network data as being a priority; seven out of ten security breaches occur when confidential data are left on insecure off-network equipment and 3 of 10 respondents are not equipped to detect data loss if it occurred.

The full report is available as a white paper through Redemtech. Registration is required.