There is a common misconception that data breaches are the product of some diabolical hacker, furiously punching keys to find any way around a company’s security. The reality is that most of these data breaches are the result of faulty or improperly enforced policies. Take for example the recent security breech at Notre Dame University when they recently discovered that more than 24,000 of their employees had personal information exposed on the internet, and to prevent future date exposure they are actively working to change their processes.

Eliminating the risk of a breach starts with identifying where sensitive information lives within an organization, and understanding the processes that are in place to manage that information. Many Jordan Lawrence clients have done just that and have been surprised at what they have found. Understanding and gaining controls of a company’s processing, storage and destruction of information, and even laptop security policies, are some of the key components to mitigating exposures and risks when it comes to data.