On Monday, I attended the Connecticut Privacy Forum hosted by Travelers. This Forum was a well attended inaugural meeting of privacy and data security professionals. I came away from the meeting very impressed with the panel of speakers and topics on the agenda. I also came away from the meeting as convinced as ever that data loss and security breaches pose a significant risk for nearly all businesses that use computers.
In one of my earlier posts, I touched on some of the risks involved for businesses related to data loss and security breaches. I also offered some potential solutions. At the Privacy Forum, data loss statistics were presented by the speakers and confirmed that these risks are very real for businesses. Here is a sample of some of the statistics from 2008 alone:
- 80 million records were compromised
- 580 data loss or breach incidents were reported
- $202 per record was the average cost to business for loss or breach
- 47% of the incidents involved corporations or businesses
- 33% involved compromised social security numbers
The speakers also offered some of the solutions for businesses in terms of risk management and planning. The seminar further included a detailed overview of federal and state laws covering privacy rights and data security. You can access the presentation materials at ctprivacy.com
Overall, this was a great event concerning a topic that will continue to be relevant to business litigation in the coming years. Congratulations to the organizers, David Baker and Peter Bernstein, from Travelers on a well run event!