In the study - entitled `Removing the complexity from information protection' - Fran Howarth, a principal analyst with Quocirca, says that encryption technology, when added to data on the move or at rest in an organisation, can help protect the company against data breaches.
The report notes that, in order to protect themselves from financial and reputational damage, encryption technologies can reduce risks by ensuring the information on such devices is secure when users are on the move.
They can also, says the study, add value by allowing the secure sharing of information among authorised users and by enabling more secure remote working.
In one example cited in the report, Howarth says that the UK's Information Commissioner's Office has ruled three NHS trusts were in breach of the Data Protection Act because of the theft or loss of laptops or USB memory sticks that had no encryption applied to them.
"As a result, the ICO has issued guidance stating that all organisations should ensure that laptops or other portable devices used by organisations to store personal data should be encrypted."
"In the US, encryption of all portable computational devices is mandatory for federal government agencies (Office of Management and Budget M-06-16) and the Cabinet Office in the UK has also recently introduced similar measures."
The report recommends that companies take better control of their critical information and use encryption to protect information on portable media to prevent information falling into the wrong hands should a device be lost or stolen.
You can download a free copy of this interesting report here...