Unapproved cloud products put company data at risk

Egnyte released results from a new survey by Harris Interactive among 2,020 U.S. adults illustrates a major exposure for today’s businesses when it comes to the transfer and storage of data through unapproved and insecure cloud-only file-sharing services.

According to the survey, more than 1 in 4 (27 percent) file-share service users reported still having access to documents from that previous employer and nearly 2 in 5 (38 percent) previous and current users have transferred sensitive files through file-sharing services that are not approved by IT.

Employees want easy access to files and will adopt tools that allow them to easily share and collaborate on projects, with or without IT’s consent.

The survey uncovers deep issues around the rogue usage of consumer-based cloud services and illustrates the need for IT to deploy a secure enterprise-grade solution that meets the file-sharing needs of employees while protecting sensitive business data from the risks associated with insecure file sharing via the cloud.

Highlights:

• 51% of employed individuals agree that collaborating on file-sharing services (such as Dropbox and YouSendIt) is secure for business documents.
• 46% of employed individuals agree that it would be easy to take sensitive business documents to another employer.
• 41% of employed individuals agree that they could easily transfer business-sensitive data outside the company using a file-sharing service.
• 31% of employed individuals agree that they would share large documents that are too big for email through a file-sharing service without checking with their IT departments.
• 38% of employed individuals that have used file-sharing services have transferred sensitive files on an unapproved file-sharing service to someone else at least once; 10% have done it 6 or more times.