Research into data breaches in HE institutions indicates that the majority of incidents are due to:
The majority of data leakage is down to human fallibility. For example, people routinely give passwords over the phone or in response to emails without verifying whether the request is genuine and many of the government's high-profile leaks have been down to laptops left on trains and CDs posted without thinking through the consequences of loss and disclosure of the data within. Also, data is often routinely shared with colleagues that do not have a right or need to have access to that data, or data is needlessly copied, creating further opportunities for loss or theft.
Keeping data secure requires common sense: you must take steps to protect your computer and protect yourself, but you also need to start thinking about the data that you and your colleagues use and how you use it. The following links provide information on UOB data security and good practice: