How safe are your data transmissions?

DATA transmission systems; BUSINESS communication; ELECTRONIC data processing; TELECOMMUNICATION; SWITCHING circuits; DIGITAL electronics

The article discusses the essentials of data transmission among corporations. Corporate internal auditors play much less of a role in auditing or supporting the data communication function specifically than they do in auditing or supporting electronic data processing in general. In a survey of internal auditors of 60 U.S. companies that transmit a great deal of data, 85% of the respondents said they were moderately to heavily involved in supporting the data processing function, but 55% had little or no involvement in auditing the telecommunication of data. Telephone networks use switching technology that routes data over various lines to meet the needs of the telephone utility; that means data paths may differ for each transmission. This introduces problems because each route change can distort the signal, and the likelihood of signal loss increases the farther a signal must travel. Telex, the typed message medium offered worldwide and operated in the United States by Western Union International, is another option. However, it's becoming less popular because it's not cost-effective for anyone but the lowest-volume users. The most efficient means of data transmission is via private phone lines, the most popular choice of large organizations.