IT downtime has serious security implications and can cost $1 Million per hour


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IT Downtime Has Serious Security Implications, and Can Cost $1 Million per Hour
by infosecurity
 
System downtime has many fallout consequences for companies, from the very real danger of data-theft to churn and the impact on core brand identity from customers. It’s also staggeringly costly: hundreds of companies have reported that lost sales, data and productivity can cost up to $1 million or more from a single hour of being incapacitated.
A new study released by Globalscape has outlined the devastating effects on business when core systems fail, whether from a security event or simple infrastructure failure. Beyond the obvious loss of employee productivity, 76% of respondents in the survey said that downtime frustrates their end users; 43% lost crucial data or important communications; and 52% said their workforce has been unable to send or receive critical, timely files. The latter two have serious security implications, and all of them have cost ramifications. 
Three-quarters (76%) of IT professionals also noted that if their workforce is unable to send or receive critical and timely files due to system availability issues, a new security concern arises, considering the information-sharing behavior of today’s employees. According to report, when internal technology comes up short, employees regularly turn to consumer-grade tools to send and access confidential information.
A full 63% of employees have used remote storage devices, like USB drives, to transfer confidential work files. Almost half (45%) of employees have used consumer sites like Dropbox and Box.net to share sensitive business information. In addition, 30% of employees have used cloud storage services for work-related files.
“When employees use consumer-grade alternatives, frustration and productivity issues quickly evolve into serious security and compliance vulnerabilities, repeatedly putting organizations and their customers at risk,” the report noted.
Meanwhile, when critical systems unexpectedly go down, the risk of losing and therefore exposing important information altogether significantly increases. Nearly half of all employees surveyed said they’ve lost important data and emails when core systems have gone down.
 
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