Data protection tops new list of concerns
Spam. The computer virus du jour. Protecting data from a disaster.
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Those are just a few of the reasons 35 percent of chief information officers surveyed by Robert Half Technology said enhancing computer network security is their highest priority.
“When you talk about network security, you are looking at things like spam and viruses that can cripple networks,” said Ted Mullin, Robert Half Technology’s operations manager for metro Boston.
The national poll surveyed 1,400 CIOs from a random sampling of companies with 100 employees or more.
Companies in the Providence area have been addressing the various aspects of securing their networks, Mullin said. He spent time working with Robert Half’s Providence branch.
“I worked with smaller manufacturing companies and financial institutions that addressed this very issue,” Mullin said. “It ran the gamut of the whole Rhode Island market and I’m sure it’s ongoing.”
In previous years, businesses were more concerned with data backup and disaster recovery, Mullin said. Increases in spam and viruses have made network security a multifaceted issue and addressing it has become a necessity for businesses, he added.
Once businesses have established a contingency plan to deal with network failure or other disaster, IT departments can work on building a network infrastructure around that plan.
Another reason network security has become such a priority, Mullin said, is that government legislation now requires that transactions be tracked.
“After Enron, the government enacted legislation that mandates data security,” Mullin said.
Network vulnerability is a concern for all businesses, as illustrated by the recent security breach at the Harvard Business School. Hackers were able to infiltrate the system to see application decisions.
“You hear about network security all the time,” Mullin said. “It comes down to data security and seeing what’s right and what’s wrong with your system.”
Businesses looking to improve their data security need to start with a disaster plan, installing updated anti-virus software on servers and having a backup plan in place, Mullin said.
“It’s not much different from how you would handle your home computer,” he said.
The need for more secure networks means more jobs for skilled technology professionals.
Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, said that as network security receives more attention, companies may add employees to their IT departments.
“Firms that had included security as part of the network administrator’s role, in many cases, are creating new positions focused entirely on this function,” Lee said.
