Monthly Research Update

Experton Group Weekly IT News

New Security Benchmark Developed for Measuring Privacy Breaches

By: Jerald Murphy

Hilb, Rogal, & Hobbs Co. (HRH) established a partnership with the Ponemon Institute LLC to develop a new Privacy Breach Index. In other news, officials from Glomark-Governan LLC recently released results of its latest IT Security Survey, while McAfee, Inc. announced new initiatives to improve security of mobile Internet devices.

Focal Points:

• Officials from HRH recently partnered with the Ponemon Institute to establish a Privacy Breach Index (PBI). This is the first publicly available benchmarking tool that is intended to objectively measure the response of a company to data loss or theft. Officials from HRH said the PBI should be able to help companies improve their procedures and safeguards for preventing data breaches, by determining what areas in the company are most vulnerable to breaches. The benchmark also measures the company's response to these breaches against other companies. The PBI was established after surveying 768 individuals in various areas of data protection, IT security, and compliance.
• Officials from Glomark-Governan recently released results from a security survey they performed in the third quarter of 2008. The study was focused on the benefits and risks of IT security measures companies take, and identifies improvements companies have made through implementing various IT security measures. By implementing better security practices, Glomark-Governan measured the increase in detection of spyware from 52 percent to 75 percent. Spam detection increased to 97 percent from 82 percent. The detection of threats and viruses increased from 67 percent to 100 percent.
• Executives at McAfee recently announced they were increasing their focus on security to Intel-based laptops and mobile Internet devices. Officials said that they will provide integrated data encryption for devices based on the Intel Atom processor, series Z5XX and Moblin-based software. In addition, officials said McAfee will integrate its security encryption with Intel Anti-Theft and Active Management technology. This should protect data on a laptop in the event the laptop is stolen. Mobile Internet devices use open Internet connectivity to applications, which increases their susceptibility to hackers. McAfee security solutions are intended to protect this new class of devices from external security threats.

Experton Group believes the privacy breach index is a good idea for IT executives to use in conjunction with security staff to evaluate the ability of IT and security staff to work together to find and eliminate security threats. The more frequently companies check their security posture, the better they will be able to protect both corporate data as well as their clients. IT executives should establish methods for evaluating their level of security and data risk, and review these results periodically to modify actions and technology used as a result of continually evolving security threats.