Dive Brief:
- A new report found that identity data used within companies often contains significant errors, increasing enterprise security and privacy risks.
- The report, from TechVision Research, suggests employees that manage identity and access management (IAM) could benefit from data-cleansing help from a chief data officer, CSO Online reports.
- Common problems included duplicate data and “ghost” employees, the study said.
Dive Insight:
“We find a plethora of identity data challenges, including multiple authoritative sources of data, inconsistent data, redundant data, old data and misclassification of data,” TechVision researchers wrote in the study.
One common problem, the report found, is that companies often believe they’ve deleted data about a former employee but later find that that data was copied into other systems. If those former employees somehow retain administrative rights, an enterprise could put itself at significant risk.
“Scores of companies are left with the ghost legacy of former employees that still have access rights — even people they fired for cause,” said Gary Rowe, CEO and principal consulting analyst at TechVision Research.
A growing number of chief data officers may help companies looking to improve data quality and governance, however. A PwC report released in January found only 6% of the 1,500 largest global companies have hired a chief digital officer. However, 31 of the 86 total CDOs were hired last year, suggesting a growing interest in the role.
