Please, Don't Save Everything

Information Management Journal, May/Jun 2005 by Swartz, Nikki

Companies trying to play it safe by saving everything in an attempt to ensure that they keep the right information are not being smart. And, according to many experts, they are not being safe, either.

According to a silicon.com report, the vast amounts of data being stored on corporate networks postSarbanes-Oxley (SOX) may actually be creating greater opportunities for fraud. And data "gluttony," as one analyst branded it, may be setting companies up for a fall in the near future.

Peter Dorrington, head of fraud solutions at SAS Institute, told silicon.com that companies are blindly storing vast amounts of data and giving little thought to what is actually being stored.

"There is just a lot of storage going on," he said. "But there is no interpretation of that data."

He said this could make occasional instances of fraud or anomalous data far more difficult to spot because the more data there is, the easier it is to miss patterns of deception.

"Fraudsters are reliant upon their transaction being a tree hidden a forest," Dorrington explained, adding that the vast amounts of data being stored post-SOX are simply increasing the size and density of that forest.

James Governor, analyst at Red Monk, agreed: "If we think of finding fraud as being a hunt for a needle in a haystack then what many, many companies are now doing is comparable to pouring on a lot more hay."

Governor added that companies should spend more on figuring out what to store rather than spending more on storage.