Seven months into the year and it’s clear data privacy will continue to be a critical issue in 2021. We’ve seen critical infrastructure and multiple credit agencies experience significant data breaches, with some even suffering two in less than a year. According to a recent report, European businesses were fined $40.56 million in privacy-related violations in the first quarter of 2021. The breaches and data leaks we see in the news almost every day have resulted in devastating consequences for both organizations and consumers.
But in today’s complex IT landscape, many organizations are just one employee click away from a cyberattack. Many of our colleagues have been discussing this for years, if not decades: an organization is only as strong as its weakest link and we are all vulnerable to the human factor. With cybercrime up 600% due to COVID-19, 73% of IT leaders are more concerned about protecting their data from ransomware than ever before. Even while hard at work, employees can pose a security threat to companies, with 57% of IT decision makers concerned remote workers will expose their firm to the risk of a data breach.