Avant Garde Ideals: Will digitally stored data ever be safe?

Last week Twitter's data was accidentally made public, and as a result amounts to an estimated $5billion fall in value. Avant Garde Ideals reviews the impacts, and outlines how reduced control of data can cause huge consequences.

About Avant Garde Ideals: http://avantgardeideals.com/#about

Avant Garde Ideals look into the Twitter mishap and how a lack of security can impact a company's value and reputation. In this case the data leak was caused when a company, Selerity - who provides real time content analytics that specialises in financial market data and sentiment - picked up the Twitter earnings release in a PDF and posted it on their public investor relations website with one of their web crawlers an hour before Twitter pushed out the earnings release. They simply reported the information that was on a hidden URL as public information since it was not secured.

Data protection is extremely important for all companies, large and small. On an almost daily basis, data theft occurs from a multitude of companies, either by accident or on purpose. Such breaches can put the information of thousands of consumers at risk, or enable competitors to access confidential information. Even a misplaced USB drive can contain sensitive, private information about a company's entire customer database. A company can be held liable and fined if a breach does occur, which is why data protection is especially prevalent.

Nowadays, important information isn't just stored on computers; it can be found on cell phones and other media devices such as iPads, making the potential for data theft even greater. Laptops, cell phones, iPads, CDs, USB drives, and more can be stolen or lost, exposing confidential information or sensitive data. In the hands of capable hackers or identity thieves, this can be a nightmare. Additionally, if a company has no backup of this information, the loss can be detrimental. Therefore, data protection and data backup go hand in hand.

Avant Garde Ideals is an outsourced sales and marketing firm based in Manchester. The firm specialise in a personalised form of direct marketing that involves connecting with consumers on a face-to-face basis on behalf of their clients' brands. Avant Garde Ideals believes that this technique leads to long-lasting and personal relationships between brand and consumer as well as increasing customer acquisition, brand awareness and brand loyalty. Avant Garde Ideals urges businesses to review their data security policies and practices, to protect their customers and their company reputation simultaneously.