The findings of its Annual Information Management and Intellectual Property Benchmark Study polled 55 corporate professionals to gauge how organizations are sharing sensitive information and the level of importance they place on implementing processes to manage, monitor and protect it. Significant findings indicated: Organizations are widely sharing intellectual property electronically, yet 37% considered electronic communication to be unsafe. 32% of respondents admitted to being aware of information leaks that have occurred at their companies, however, 60% are completely unaware of how many unreported incidents may be occurring.

Email usage was much lower when information was shared internally, with devices and line of business applications accounting for much of the sharing. On the other hand, email usage was significantly higher when information needed to be shared externally. 69% are still using file shares to store sensitive information and 62% cite access control as a major challenge with sharing information electronically. Monitoring the use of USB, CD/DVD and instant messaging is still occurring less than email and FTP. Achieving compliance, improving corporate governance and reducing risk were top of mind.

‘These perspectives are worrisome, particularly for organizations with similar demographics as our survey respondents, including firms doing business in manufacturing, architectural, engineering, construction, healthcare, retail and publishing industries,’ says Lee Harrison, CEO of Thru. ‘Other studies show how organizations that fail to monitor electronic sharing of sensitive information and enforce policies defining acceptable use are susceptible to lost competitive advantage, customers, sales and profitability.’

Information sprawl is prevalent in most organizations and many business professionals rely on tools like email, FTP and instant messaging to communicate electronically. However, the research findings show that these practices are not considered safe and appropriate for sharing sensitive information. The risks of data loss or information being leaked are high, yet organizations are struggling to find a way to address the risks without slowing down business processes or making them more complex. On average, respondent organizations were monitoring electronic communication methods less than they are sharing proprietary content, such as contracts, product plans, engineering files, design documents, process documentation, project materials, manufacturing documents, source code, customer information, clinical data and legal records.

Thru has developed Critical Message Governance (CMG) as a best practice framework for helping organizations share, protect and manage information base on its value. Organizations practicing CMG can achieve a greater level of maturity in information risk management, security and access control, often producing results that easily can justify further improvement in other areas of information delivery and management.

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