Around 50 percent of companies globally, and an even greater percentage in the U.S. are unaware of, and don't take effective measures against, the most pressing cyber threats that exist today, reveals a survey by B2B International on behalf of Kaspersky Lab. Nearly 58 percent admit lack of resources in both staffing and improving IT security.
Half of companies are not knowledgeable about the potential security threats they may face. A significant number of key IT specialists surveyed were not aware of any of the most common cyber threats - including those targeting the corporate sector, while 31 percent of respondents admitted they had never heard of any of the cyber epidemics that recently posed direct threats to their organizations.
A further 58 percent of the IT professionals surveyed highlighted a lack of resources into both staffing and improving IT security systems, reducing the organizations ability to cope with cyber security threats. This was mainly due to poor understanding among senior managers of the reasons why IT departments exist - that is, their objectives and the reasoning behind them.
Results from the survey also revealed that 35 percent of companies have insufficient numbers of personnel trained to deal with IT threats - an issue particularly prevalent in North America. However, this problem cannot be dealt with simply by hiring new employees; existing staff also need to be educated. This is emphasised by the low level of computer literacy among employees, which can lead to confidential information leakages, and to the infection - or even total disablement - of a company's IT infrastructure. Therefore teaching staff the basics of IT security should be no less important than installing the latest security software.
"Companies shouldn't underestimate global cyber threats," said Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab. "This issue has started to be taken seriously of late, and businesses have begun to worry, leading to increases in the number of IT staff working specifically in IT security (now about 40 per cent of IT staff in companies all around the world). However, IT security staff are not always sufficiently trained and competent to protect businesses from the most pertinent threats."
The Global IT Security Risks survey canvassed more than 3,300 senior IT professionals from 22 countries who influence IT security policy and also have a good grounding in general business matters.
