Kroll Ontrack: UK companies exposed to threat of data breach

Kroll Ontrack, the industry's leading provider of paper and electronic discovery, computer forensics and ESI (electronically stored information) consulting, jury consulting and courtroom presentation services, found that only a quarter of U.K. organisations feel able to respond very effectively to a data breach. This is despite the fact that companies, on average, claim to experience 1.5 data breaches every year.

This is one of the key findings from the Third Annual ESI Trends Report, an independent study commissioned by Kroll Ontrack. Monitoring U.K. and U.S. ESI policy enactment, strategy ownership and implementation success, the survey reveals the challenges of storing corporate data while managing the risk of protecting that data.

While 56 per cent of U.K. companies conducted a vulnerability assessment in the past 12 months, only 25 per cent of respondents are confident in their incident response. Furthermore, 15 per cent of companies believe their responses to data breaches are not effective at all.

"In the last couple of years, there have been several high profile data breaches in both the public and private sector," said Martin Carey, managing director of Kroll Ontrack U.K. "Consequently, it is concerning that so few U.K .organisations see themselves in a position to enact a strong response to a data breach incident."

"Since no company can expect to completely eliminate the threat of data breaches through preventative measures, an organisation's ability to detect and react swiftly and competently to an incident is paramount," added Carey. "The cost implications, in terms of replacing lost data and compensating those affected are evident, but businesses may also face legal consequences following a breach due to the rising number of data breach notification laws. Moreover, the reputational damage and loss of customer trust associated with a major breach incident may be the most severe consequences of all. With commentators suggesting that 60 per cent of businesses collapse within six months of a serious data loss(2), it is in a corporation's best interest to proactively assess, understand and address data security vulnerabilities in conjunction with other data management policies."

(1) All figures are based on research undertaken by Research Plus in the U.S. and the U.K. between 15th June and 22nd July 2009. Interviews were carried out with 230 companies in the U.K. and 231 in the U.S.

(2) According to SimplyBusiness.co.uk, September 2009.

The Legal Technologies division of Kroll Ontrack provides corporations, law firms and government agencies with technology and services for large scale electronic and paper-based discovery, computer forensics, trial graphics and presentations as well as electronically stored information (ESI) and jury consulting. Helping customers quickly and cost-effectively find, review, manage, produce and present relevant evidence, Kroll Ontrack is recognized as the leading electronic discovery provider by Am Law Tech (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008).

About Kroll Ontrack Inc.

Kroll Ontrack provides technology-driven services and software to help legal, corporate and government entities as well as consumers recover, search, analyze, produce and present data efficiently and cost-effectively. In addition to its award-winning suite of software, Kroll Ontrack provides data recovery, advanced search, paper and electronic discovery, computer forensics, ESI consulting, and trial consulting and presentation services. Kroll Ontrack is a technology services division of Kroll Inc., the global risk consulting company. For more information about Kroll Ontrack and its offerings please visit: www.krollontrack.com; www.ontrackdatarecovery.com; www.ontrackengenium.com.

CONTACT: Alexandra Bell, Citigate Dewe Rogerson Tel: +44 (0)207 282 2829 e-mail: alexandra.bell@citigatedr.co.uk Nicola Vandermeer, Kroll Ontrack Tel: +44 (0)207 549 9612 e-mail: nvandermeer@krollontrack.co.uk WWW: http://www.krollontrack.com WWW: http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com WWW: http://www.ontrackengenium.com.

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