Many companies view the issue of data leaks as a minor annoyance - one that is either over-reported due to media sensationalism or simply an alarmist concern by IT departments trying to pad their budgets.
In reality, the cost of data leaks can be damaging to both a company's profitability and its reputation. For example, consider the situation that the Obama Administration now finds itself in after 2008 documents showing a link between Pakistan's intelligence agency and Taliban insurgents. The source of the document leak is a website known for publishing classified military information - apparently with little difficulty - considering nearly 90,000 documents were recently posted, forcing the government to deal head-on with the issue.
Or take the example of DuPont, which had an employee steal and leak over $400 million worth of data. During the course of four months, the thief accessed over 15 times as many documents as other employees, but this was never questioned or even detected until long after he left the company.
In order to properly address these kinds of issues, a company must act pre-emptively to both monitor and track data movement. This can be done in several ways, and new methods have now been developed which allow the tracking, storage and reconstruction of accessed and transmitted data on PCs without the need for added hardware or software. Used properly, options such as these can aid companies in catching data leaks before they start as well as in protecting both their finances and their reputation.
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