One of Every Two Organizations Suffered Loss of Sensitive Data in Last Year

• A typical organization’s total data increased 42% over the last 18 months, as SaaS data grew by 145%
• 66% of IT and security leaders report that data growth outpaces their ability to secure data and mitigate risk
• 98% of organizations report significant data visibility challenges
• Roughly 2 of 3 organizations report that it is likely employees are accessing data in violation of corporate data policies

As marquee brands continue to reveal the challenges of successful cyberattacks targeting their business data, a cyber report from Rubrik, Inc. finds a stark reality: about 1 of every 2 organizations surveyed suffered a loss of sensitive data over the last year. In fact, 1 of 6 organizations experienced multiple losses of data in the past 12 months.

In its new research report, The State of Data Security: The Journey to Secure an Uncertain Future, Rubrik Zero Labs provides a timely view into the increasingly commonplace problem of cyber risks and the challenge to secure data across an organization’s expanding surface area. New technologies – from AI to cloud – continue to create countless opportunities for modern cybersecurity threats that capitalize on the explosion of data worldwide, according to more than 1,600 security executives who participated.

Data Surging – And Shows no Signs of Slowing Down
• A typical organization’s data has grown 42% over the last 18 months, with SaaS data driving the most growth overall (145%) followed by cloud (73%) and on-premises (20%).
• On average, a typical organization’s data volume totals 240 backend terabytes (BETB). Three Rubrik-protected organizations reported more than a petabyte of backend storage.
• The total volume of data a typical organization needs to secure will increase by almost 100BETB in the next year – and by 7x in the next 5 years.

Organizations Struggle to Protect Sensitive Data Amid Growth
• Global organizations have 24.8 million sensitive data records, observed on average.
• 61% of organizations surveyed store sensitive data in multiple locations across cloud, on-premises, and SaaS environments, with less than 4% reporting a dedicated, sensitive storage location.
• Over half (53%) of external organizations surveyed experienced a material loss of sensitive information in the last year, with about 1 out of every 6 organizations (16%) experiencing multiple losses in 2022.
• The most widely-reported data types compromised included personally identifiable information (38%), corporate financial data (37%), and authentication credentials (32%).

Data Policies Need to Be Improved to Meet Growing Data Security Needs
• 66% of IT and security leaders surveyed believe their organization’s current data growth is outpacing their ability to secure this data and manage risk.
• Almost all (98%) external organizations surveyed believe they currently have significant data visibility challenges.
• 62% of respondents suspect people inside their organization are accessing data in violation of data policies.
• 54% of external organizations surveyed have an appointed single senior executive responsible for data and its security.

“The explosive growth in data is due to increasing use of big data tied to AI, the IoT, and the increasingly common use of personal data generated by devices. Furthermore, it is rapidly changing both sides of the cybersecurity battlefront – including the myriad of ways that attacks are carried out and how our systems execute rapid response, from posture management to data security,” said Steven Stone, head of Rubrik Zero Labs. “We see that left unattended, today’s data proliferation can cripple businesses. Organizations need to have the right visibility into their data to secure it, with a clear plan for cyber resilience that delivers BC.”

The State of Data Security comes from Rubrik Zero Labs, the company’s cybersecurity research unit formed to analyze the global threat landscape, report on emerging data security issues, and give organizations research-backed insights and best practices to secure their data vs. increasing cyber events.

Report methodology
The State of Data Security: The Journey to Secure an Uncertain Future by Rubrik Zero Labs was commissioned by Rubrik and conducted by Wakefield Research among more than 1,600 IT and security decision-makers at companies of 500 or more employees. Respondents were made up of approximately half CIOs and CISOs and half VPs and directors of IT and security. The research was conducted in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and India between June 30, 2023 and July 11, 2023.

The survey supplemented Rubrik telemetry, looking at more than 5,000 clients across 22 industries and 67 countries. The data includes over 35EB of logical storage secured and more than 24 billion sensitive data records from January 2022 through July 2023.