45% of Kiwi businesses ‘unprepared’ for data breaches

Businesses in New Zealand are struggling to defend against data breaches and are not properly using endpoint security, data protection or training security driven employee behaviour. HP research reports that 45 per cent of Kiwi organisations are self-rated as “not secure”, with 50 per cent of companies lacking in cyber security confidence.
“The consequences of a data breach are severe; from financial to brand and reputation damage,” said Grant Hopkins, managing director of HP New Zealand. “Organisations need to be vigilant about implementing processes that regularly monitor, detect and report data breaches. Running regular risk assessments and managing your endpoint security is critical in keeping businesses data safe.”

Hopkins also added that traditional security measures and anti-virus programs are becoming “less effective” with an increasing number of Kiwis working remotely and using personal devices in the workplace. Nowadays remote access to company data is very common and 60 per cent of local businesses “regularly allow” remote working, but only 42 per cent have a security policy in place.

“Endpoint security - at the device level - is critical,” Hopkins added. “Organisations tend to rely solely on third party software security to protect their devices when, in reality, stronger and better business security must be integrated into the device itself. … With hackers able to bypass traditional network perimeter security and anti-virus programs, it’s time we scrutinise a hardware’s security as closely, if not more, than our external security solutions.”

Customers tend towards focusing on efforts around PCs, tablets and other connected devices, but neglecting “one of the largest areas of vulnerability” in the form of the printer, Hopkins said. Printers used in general Kiwi businesses are “relatively insecure”. 30 per cent of the printers do not offer any security features and only 35 per cent of customer printers put effort in to IT security assessments.

“Security threats are evolving every day, …Due to reduced effectiveness of firewall protection, every device on an organisation’s network is at risk, and unfortunately printing and imaging devices are often overlooked and left exposed.” Hopkins finally mentioned. Therefore, “Protecting against security breaches is one of the biggest challenges organisations face.”