Basic data-leak prevention lacking among Australian organizations

Contributed by Roumiana Deltcheva (Wednesday, December 29, 2010) | Category : Email security

Recent tests conducted by the Online Trust Alliance revealed Australian banks and financial institutions are falling far short in implementing basic data-leak prevention measures.

That these organizations fail to protect themselves with email security measures is surprising, given that most face a regular bombardment of phishing campaigns, according to the report. It was discovered that just 28 percent of audited organizations have implemented proper protection.

"If we don't step up to the mark, we miss the chance to self-regulate - and government regulation is at times much more expensive to comply with," Manish Goel, of the Online Trust Alliance, said.

Results for Australian government agencies were a bit better, but not much. The alliance found that 20 of 50 government agencies have basic security in place. Goel called those results "pretty good."

This fall's arrests of cyber criminals connected to the Zeus Trojan highlight the need for banks to protect their data. Hackers used Zeus to steal banking information from victims and used the information to pilfer an estimated $70 million from U.S. banks.