Have you ever wondered what happens to your data once a thief gets their hands on it? Bitglass, a cloud security company conducted an experiment to find out just what happens when data has been stolen. And the answer may surprise you.

The experiment began with Bitglass’ Threat Research Team compiling a spread sheet of 1600 fake names, social security numbers, credits cards, and addresses. They took this false information and transmitted it through the company’s proxy. The research team was able to monitor each time the file was opened and even pin down the exact location. And here are the surprising results: in just 12 days the data was viewed 1081 times, and was opened in 22 countries and 5 continents. These are really alarming results as “data breach discovery often takes ‘weeks or months’, allowing hackers to compromise the system and search for valuable data to exfiltrate”, according to Verizon analysts. Hackers are stealing data much faster than companies can keep track and that there are no geographic boundaries to where the information can end up!

One way of making sure your company stays safe from such immediate threats is implementing a comprehensive security strategy that includes encryption and key management; which means avoiding the ramifications of losing sensitive data, including loss of profits, legal action and punitive fines. Once sensitive data is in the wrong hands it clearly is only a matter of days before it is spread across the globe.

To learn more on how you can keep your company secure, download our Whitepaper on 5 Pillars of Transparent Data Security.