Email and the web are becoming the predominate ways in which pension schemes communicate information.

However pension schemes who communicate information via e-mail are often leaving themselves exposed to information leaking into the wrong hands. Pension schemes usually have no single network for all trustees, advisers and managers and so the risks are significantly greater than for other organisations.

Most schemes use email to send important or sensitive information to advisers, trustees and other parties. This information can be commercially sensitive and can contain personal data to which the schemes have been entrusted. However e-mail in particular can be vulnerable and documents and personal data can potentially end up in the wrong hands.

Within companies most communication is between people in the same organisation. This information can be protected quite easily as it never reaches the outside world, however in a pension scheme this is no longer true, some Trustees will usually be outside this infrastructure and there are often a myriad of advisers who regularly communicate information. This leaves pension schemes exposed to a greater degree than companies.

“Many people hope that their data will never be compromised but the exposure is there and the consequences of disclosing confidential funding information or details of an acquisition can be financially disastrous.” Said Alister Esam, Managing Director of eShare, “Perhaps more worrying is the risk of disclosing personal data which potentially puts trustees at risk of being found negligent.”

“By using more advanced web based systems to communicate, the problem is solved” said Alister Esam, Managing Director of eShare. “This is why security at eShare is such an important issue. We provide security of data transfer through encryption and we can guarantee that our clients’ data will never fall into the wrong hands.”

eShare have recently performed a full security review of all systems. They already encrypt data so the risks associated with emails are eradicated. Their data centre provides total physical security of the data. The review also prompted eShare to take advantage of new developments in the firewall industry. With a result they have deployed Fortigate firewalls throughout.

Fortigate are market leaders of security applications and are one of only two suppliers authorised to supply to the US Military for their IT security. They have the most awards and certifications in the industry, including ‘security product of the year’, and act as a benchmark for other security solutions. 24 hour protection is provided against over 60,000 different threats.

“With these latest initiatives we believe schemes can not only look to eShare to help improve governance but they can also rely on us to reduce their exposure to leaking commercially sensitive data and personal data ,” said Esam, “Put simply there is no safer way for scheme data to be shared and transferred.”

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