Balancing Data Security and Compliance

After a wave of serious data breaches in 2011, corporate IT professionals and industry regulators are approaching the matter with renewed vigor in the new year. However, a number of organizations are learning that data security and data compliance may not be complementary, but competing priorities.

"If data loss continues on its current trends, it will cost the U.S. economy $290 billion by 2018," cybersecurity expert Kevin West announced in a recent Forbes guest column. "This equates to 1.6 percent of GDP."

In the report, West backed up his assertions by highlighting the dual impact of intellectual property theft perpetrated by outsourcing partners and slowly evolving cybersecurity training practices.

Naturally, corporate finance teams are beginning to press their IT colleagues for answers. However, simply assuming that achieving data compliance equates to optimal cybersecurity could be a misguided philosophy.

According to PCWorld, complex and conflicting compliance mandates may be jeopardizing overall data protection efforts. Several of the most notable victims of data breaches in 2011 actually had consistently successful audit records. As a result, the new era of data protection may call for distinct compliance and cybersecurity strategies.