Security experts reveal surprising reason why 24% of businesses avoid basic security practices: productivity

TORONTO, March 10, 2014 /CNW/ - External IT security & privacy compliance check-ups are considered basic practices in every industry sector. Weekly revelations of damaging data breaches in retail, healthcare, finance, IT and other sectors have spurred a wave of risk assessments across Canada.

Unfortunately at least 24% of companies have never conducted a risk assessment, potentially exposing customer data and increasing the risk of embarrassing breaches.

Verify™, a 'zero impact' audit process based on a proven risk assessment methodology (available from Securityaudits.ca) is the only independent IT auditing solution that meets the top three priorities of Canadian businesses as identified by researchers at Informatica Security:

1. turnaround time. Clients demand rapid assessments to avoid impacting operations
2. communication. Clients expect to be informed of major findings sooner
3. low-impact. Non-intrusive assessments to prevent business interruptions

The surprising finding is that a lack of legislative enforcement is not the reason for poor security practices in Canada. In fact, it appears the fear of productivity loss amounts for 2/3 of the failure to conduct security assessments by small and medium-size businesses.

"The immediate impact on productivity trumps the theoretical risk of security breaches" notes Informatica CEO Claudiu Popa. "Regardless of the sensitivity of their data, the vast majority of businesses will not settle for security or privacy assessments that negatively impact their operations. Business owners demand non-invasive solutions and rapid results."

Like other risk assessments on the market, Verify™ IT security audits enable businesses to catch vulnerabilities before breaches occur. They also report how much stress systems and Web sites can withstand before hackers or criminals gain access to valuable data. But that's where the similarities end.

Verify™ is a zero-impact solution that safeguards productivity, protecting businesses from costly disruptions. It isn't revolutionary, but no comparable service exists on the market today" said Popa.

About the Company:

Informatica Security's Verify™ services offer Canadian businesses nationwide a platform for security assurance, providing security testing, privacy assessment, systems availability and website performance testing.

Compliance and pre-audit services for PIPEDA, PHIPA, CASL and PCI-DSS are provided by experienced security professionals and certified Risk Advisors.

SOURCE: Informatica Security Corporation

For commentary and media interviews: Claudiu Popa, CEO, Informatica Corporation, email: [email protected], www.SecurityandPrivacy.ca/verify, Twitter @datarisk, 1 Yonge St. Toronto, Canada, 416-431-9012