A matter of increasing concern for system administrators and business decision makers is how to optimally balance data security solutions with their employees' need to access sensitive files in order to complete their daily tasks. The increasing threat posed by cybercriminals has made an operational policy of allowing open access to any and all documents an untenable proposition. In this day and age, businesses of every size should have robust data security applications in place to protect information at all levels. A pair of recent studies suggested that this task is best left in the hands of system administrators and not left up to individual employees.

The Ponemon Institute recently conducted a study on how employees valued the privacy of company information against their need to be productive. In contrast to senior-level employees, participants ages 26 - 35 demonstrated a preference for remaining productive over the security of the data they were utilizing. Sixty-five percent of staff members over the age of 55 rated the privacy of company data as either important or very important. Meanwhile, only 52 percent of millennials agreed with that viewpoint. Researchers concluded that one of the contributing factors to the younger generation's preference for production over privacy a result of the need to prove their worth to company higher-ups. This phenomenon may be further exacerbated by the competitive job market, leading these employees to take greater risks to demonstrate their value to the company.

Download Free Trial:
SecureZIP

File Compression + Security

Gender differences on data security
In addition to discrepancies between age groups, recent research suggested that men and women may also approach data security with differing viewpoints. TechNewsDaily contributor Ben Weitzenkorn reported that a study on gender differences regarding cybersecurity found that the two sexes may prioritize those needs slightly differently. For instance, 32 percent of the men who participated in the study regularly updated their mobile device cyberdefenses, while only 25 percent of responding women did.

These studies show that views on the importance of cyberdefenses can vary between age groups and genders, meaning that business leaders cannot depend on their employees to actively pursue effective data security solutions. The deployment of preventive measures should be handled at an administrative level, with a strong focus on the creation of a comprehensive plan of action that covers every level of system access. For instance, officials should deploy data encryption software to protect information that is both stored on a server and transferred across the network. These measures will prevent hackers from accessing sensitive data and leveraging it for financial gain.