IT security standards to help firms meet data protection requirements

The formation of new IT security standards may help to seal over the cracks of business IT networks, and also help businesses to adhere to data protection legislation, according to a tech entrepreneur.

The chief executive and cofounder of IT security firm SQR Systems, Dr. Nithin Thomas, spoke to out-law.com when he claimed that developing IT security standards can only help vendors to produce products that assist businesses in adhering to the new data protection legislation for the EU.

Dr. Nithin said that increased standardisation  could help simplify business IT security, as it would result in a baseline standard applied to all companies. Firms would then be able to add additional layers of protection, depending on needs and  budget, he said.

He added that not all companies are sufficiently aware of cyber threats to adopt a holistic viewpoint on what is needed for adequate protection.

He went on to explain:

“For example, some companies will protect desktop computers but not mobile devices. The issue is that because there is no baseline standard, there are a lot of holes in the network and there is a patchy approach to security.”

While some firms may feel that having to implement standards of security as extra work, they would be wise to reconise that it will actually help them. Indeed, posting cyber security jobs on job boards is likely to provide even greater levels of protection against the rising number of cyber threats.