Henk Jan Spanjaard

Amsterdam

Managing Director EMEA, Decru

Despite the highly publicised data loss cases in the US, it is alarming to see that UK businesses still have not grasped the risks associated with data theft, which include brand damage and customer loss; will we have to wait for EU legislation that forces businesses to disclose security breaches for them to start securing their data? If you consider that there have been over 100 million data records exposed in the last two years since the laws came into place in the US, this alone should be enough to sound alarm bells about the level of theft that is happening in the UK right now.

Security in 2007 will be defined by the growth of organised crime, with threats like industrial espionage coming to the forefront as industries like automotive and pharmaceutical compete to be first to market with designs and products. These companies cannot wait for legislation to protect their data, we know that they are being targeted right now by criminals and it is just a matter of time before we see some very high profile data loss cases in the UK.