Keeping private data under wraps

Confidential practice information may not be as well-protected as you think. Up to 80 percent of corporate employees will disclose sensitive company or customer information to people they don't know over the phone, and up to 33 percent will disclose the sensitive information via e-mail, according to RavenEye, an information-security consulting business. Though it's easy to blame technology for these breaches, Joseph Kirkpatrick, president of RavenEye, writes, "Human error is the common element in the information-theft stories which have been a fixture in the 2005 headlines." He says staff awareness and training are key in heading off this threat. So teach your team members to be wary of anyone trying to obtain sensitive company data, such as network IDs and passwords.