Kaspersky Lab reveals today that 60 per cent of IT decision makers feel that not enough time or money is available to develop IT security policies. As a result, barely half of the companies surveyed feel that they have highly-organised, systematic processes to deal with IT threats. These findings emerge from the recent Global Corporate IT Security Risks 2013 survey conducted by B2B International for Kaspersky Lab in April 2013 among business representatives around the world.
The situation is especially poor in the educational industry, where only 28 per cent of organisations are confident that they have sufficient investment in IT security policies. What is even more critical, only 34 per cent of the government and defense organisations surveyed all around the world, claim that they have enough time and resources to develop IT security policies. The remaining two thirds are in constant danger of losing confidential governmental information.
Meanwhile, even a single measure, such as, implementing IT security policies for mobile devices, could significantly reduce the risks posed by smartphones and tablets in a corporate IT environment. The survey shows that almost half have no such policies. Even where mobile security policies have been implemented, resources are still inadequate: around half complain that budget increases are insufficient, while 16 per cent complained there is no extra funding made available.
According to the survey 91 per cent of companies surveyed have at least one external IT security incident, and 85 per cent reported internal incidents in the past 12 months. Such incidents can cause real financial and reputational damage. These losses can significantly exceed the cost of putting in place IT security tools which would help to avoid leaks of important data, downtime and other unplanned expenses. This is why it is extremely important to invest in the security of the corporate IT infrastructure.
Also according to the Global Corporate IT Security Risks survey, a serious incident costs large companies an average of £418,000; for small and medium-sized companies the bill typically comes to about £32,000. A successful targeted attack can cost a company more than £1.5 million in direct financial losses and additional costs.
David Emm, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab comments, “Lots of organisations don’t realise these risks. A quarter of companies still regard security issues as things that happen to others – although more and more are starting to realise they are a real life problem for any business. Another problem is that 28 per cent of companies mistakenly think that the costs of guarding against cybercrime are greater than the potential losses.”
