Forrester Research recently published a report entitled “The Value of Corporate Secrets.” Commissioned by Microsoft and RSA, the report studied data security practices of over 300 companies in North America, Europe and Australia to understand how those companies value sensitive information.
The findings are revealing. The report notes that proprietary information and trade secrets contribute nearly twice as much to corporate value as custodial data (such as customer financial information and employee medical information). However, corporations devote most of their security resources and budgets to protecting the custodial data. This is because a wide array of regulations mandate the protection of medical, financial, and other custodial data, while corporations can decide for themselves how best to protect trade secrets. Because of this, many corporations are unable to assess how effective they are in protecting proprietary information.
RSA has published the full report here. It’s a worthwhile read for anyone who is involved in protecting a company’s intangible assets.
IP Spotlight 