Almost every week I hear in the news about another data compromise, whether it be a large corporation having their customers credit cards and personal information stolen or even computer hacks rumored to be effecting the election. Personally, it is very scary thinking about myself and my family’s data getting into the wrong hands.

If I was managing a large database of panelists or other sensitive data which my business relies on, I am not sure I would sleep well at night knowing that there may be many different potential access points for this information to be exposed or accessed by someone else.

I was speaking with one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies recently and was told that the use of “brand x” survey platform has been 100% forbidden to use moving forward with the potential of losing a job if you are caught using this off the shelf tool.

I think we all need to take a look in the mirror and evaluate the different software, applications and tools we use in our everyday business and personal lives and ask if there is a better, more secure, way to manage these processes and our data.

In the business world it is very important to involve IT and your SECURITY team when choosing a new critical software platform(s) to make sure that the tools you will use every day meet the security requirements of your business as well as the productivity requirements for your research needs. I know this adds time and most likely costs to the bottom line but not as much as if your database wound up in the wrong hands .

Which side of the firewall does your database, survey data and other critical research tools reside?