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RSS feedsMany firms risk exposing sensitive customer data because they are failing to adequately disguise details when using them in application testing, according to new research by IT management software vendor Compuware.
The report found that nearly 60 per cent of UK companies used actual customer data instead of disguised data to test applications during the development process. This means that information such as employee records, customer account numbers, credit card numbers, and other payment information could be exposed, said Compuware.
Using real customer data during the testing process could expose it to unauthorised sources such as third party developers, consultants or offshore personnel, the firm added.
"By taking a holistic view of an organisations' business processes and looking at the way customer data is used by the applications that support these processes, organisations can start to tackle the problem," explained Compuware's enterprise technology manager, Atul Bhovan. "This analysis can then be used to decide which data should be disguised for use in application testing."
See also:
High profile incidents such as that at HMRC have lead to calls for stronger data legislation 03 Jan 2008
New security measures for handling data unveiled in the House of Commons 19 Dec 2007
New research from Ernst & Young finds many security teams are still struggling to integrate with the business 10 Dec 2007
The data loss scandal could knock confidence in the UK ID card scheme 22 Nov 2007Will the loss of two CD-roms make the government overhaul its security procedures? 22 Nov 2007All Developer
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