The role of data privacy growing within security

YARMOUTH, Maine—They say data is the new oil, but are we really leveraging all of the data that is being produced today? In this month's News Poll we asked readers about what they are doing with their company and customers' data.

Results of this month's news poll demonstrate the importance privacy plays within our lives and within security today. For example, 69 percent of respondents said that privacy plays a role, with 53 percent saying it plays a “major” role and 16 percent saying it plays “some” role. The remaining 32 percent said privacy plays no role in security, interestingly.
Respondents were split on the collection and use of data, which shows that we are still in early days of what the industry can do with all of the data being stored and analyzed.

When asked, “Does your company collect data/metadata,” 47 percent said no while 42 percent yes, with the remaining 11 percent saying they collect “some” data.

Looking at whether or not a company mines and analyzes data/metadata for actionable info, 37 percent said yes, with another 37 percent saying “not yet.”

“We developed a system to register detailed information on the services we provide and we are learning how our customers, and their systems, behave,” said one respondent. “We have been collecting very good information with it and it's been helping us to plan better and provide better service. It is also protecting us because we can show clearly to our customers what we are doing and why we are doing it.”

Twenty six percent of respondents said they are “starting to” analyze and use data, illustrating the room for growth in this area within security.

“We are starting to dig into our customer data and information to identify attrition trends and other factors that will help improve the business,” noted one respondent.