Survey: Many Companies Don’t Bother Encrypting Data

(AP) —

Some government and police officials may be seething because encryption makes it harder for them to track criminals and terrorists, but it turns out that many companies aren’t bothering to protect their data by encoding it in the first place.

A new study released Tuesday by the security firm Sophos surveyed 1,700 IT managers at mid-sized businesses in the U.S., Canada, India, Australia, Japan and Malaysia. Of those, 44 percent say they’re currently making extensive use of encryption, while another 43 percent are using encryption to some degree.

Encryption levels were lower among the smaller businesses surveyed, with just 38 percent of organizations with 100 to 500 employees saying they’re encrypting extensively.

In the U.S., encryption rates are higher, with 54 percent of those surveyed saying they make extensive use of the technology. Australia came in second with a rate of 49 percent, while Malaysia posted the lowest rate of 26 percent.

The top reason for not encrypting extensively – supplied by 37 percent of those who responded – was a lack of budget, while 31 percent cited performance concerns.

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