TrendTrend: Use of BS7799/ISO17799 security standard increases dramatically
Companies increasingly complying with security standards
Recent headline-grabbing stories about security breaches in organizations which hold the personal information of millions of people have brought the issue of information security to the fore. Organizations which outsource the handling of customer information to third parties — local or offshore — are increasingly demanding evidence that this data is protected while offsite. One way to make sure that good security practices are being followed is to use service providers certified to the BS7799 British security standard, or its international equivalent ISO 17799, both designed to help firms manage and minimize security risks. Indeed, uptake of the standard has grown considerably during its ten-year history, especially in the past few years. In 2002 fewer than 200 organizations world-wide had achieved BS7799 certification, according to the Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) International User Group. Today this number has risen to 1,870.
According to the ISMS group, Japan has by far the most certificates for one country, at 1,080. In second place is the U.K. with 215. One of the countries with the fastest-growing increase is India, in third place with 131 certified firms — up from 28 last April.
