In the digital age, companies are faced with a new challenge that greatly affects their brand equity; the protection of their customers' sensitive information. Consumers keenly aware of the risks involved in trusting their information to companies that do not have a content loss prevention solution in place to monitor for data loss or misuse.

Tablus announced the results of a survey of 400 consumers' views on brand equity as it relates to data breaches and found that 87 percent lost respect for businesses that lost sensitive customer information. "Lose my information and you've lost my business," was the theme of the survey respondents' comments. "My patronage to a business depends on more than just the products they offer. Security and confidentiality of customer information should be a priority," said one respondent. "I trust you with this information," said another survey respondent. "Don't break my trust!"

The survey also revealed that a majority of respondents saw a strong link between data breaches and brand equity:

- 93 percent of respondents said that businesses have an obligation to protect sensitive content
- 95 percent of respondents felt there was no excuse for a company to expose a customer's confidential information
- 85 percent of respondents would prefer to do business with a company that has never experienced a data breach
- 82 percent of respondents would warn others from doing business with a company that exposed its customers' personal information
- 82 percent of respondents felt that companies that had never experienced data loss were more trust worthy than those that have
- 96 percent of respondents stated that companies' highest priority should be protecting customers from a data breach
- 94 percent of respondents said if there was a technology that could prevent the loss of confidential personal information that all businesses handling this information should use it
- 90 percent of respondents stated that they did not trust companies that couldn't provide protection for their confidential information
- 88 percent of respondents felt that companies that provided better protection of their customers' confidential information have better reputations

"This survey shows how essential content protection is to an organization, not just from an IT perspective, but from the value a brand has in the public eye," said David Puglia, vice president of marketing for Tablus. "Newspaper headlines have shown how fragile brand equity can be after a company experiences a data breach, and companies must stay ahead of the threat in order to maintain brand equity. The Tablus Content Loss Prevention Suite including Content Sentinel(TM), Content Alarm NW(TM) and Content Alarm DT(TM) provides the scalability and accuracy required to protect customer relationships, as well as brand and corporate assets."