Firms fail to identify data risk

Many firms fail to identify the data risk they face, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said. Its Data Security in Financial Services guidelines 2008, published today, outlined the problems financial firms face with increasing amounts of customer data. "Getting date protection wrong can bring commercial, reputation, regulatory and legal penalties," warned information commissioner, Richard Thomas. "Getting it right brings rewards in terms of customer trust and confidence." Web analytics requires large amounts of commercial data, all of which is accurately assessed to help clients better understand. The guidelines are considered relevant to all firms in both public and private sectors and revealed some key failings. Firms were found to not have identified all aspects of the risk because they underestimated its gravity, lacked expertise and failed to dedicate sufficient resources. It was reported the HSBC lost an entire server from offices in Hong Kong and with it details of 159,000 customers.