Data security breaches have surfaced with increased regularity over the past years. Financial losses due to cybercrime continue to grow. Credit Card fraud, the theft of customer information, identity theft, social engineering, software piracy—these are all on the increase.
Simple human error, ignorance or omission are nearly always at the root of many of these data breaches and e-crimes. In nearly every case there was no technical defence that would have prevented them. The damage to the public?s confidence in the ability or enthusiasm of any organisation—public or private, large or small - to protect personal and financial data is immense.
Despite the vast sums of money spent, IT systems at all levels and within most organisations remain inherently vulnerable to even the most basic of security and fraud weaknesses and vulnerabilities. This is because we have focused almost entirely on the technology. We have not attended in any way to the most fragile element—our people.
The human aspects of security and fraud prevention need to be promoted to their rightful place alongside the technical solutions. We must harness the support and assistance of every one of our employees and customers. We must ensure honesty and integrity is paramount alongside effective communication and understanding of what is required of them in their everyday behaviour in order to handle information in all its forms in a safe and secure manner. Unless we do this, our data security and e-crime defences will never be complete.