In addition, 92 of those surveyed said that cybercriminals are a growing menace, with 60% agreeing that a successful cyber attack would affect their organization’s competitiveness, according to a survey of large UK businesses conducted by Ipsos MORI for Detica.
“Awareness of the real commercial threat to private industry appears to remain low. It is surprising that the vast majority of those questioned believe themselves to be adequately equipped to deal with a direct cyber attack, as the most commonly quoted forms of IT security in the survey – firewalls and anti-virus software – leave many organizations vulnerable”, said Henry Harrison, technical director for Detica.
“Companies increasingly need to go ‘beyond the firewall’ to guarantee the integrity of their commercial and customer data. This threat isn’t simply going to go away, and cyber risk should be addressed around the board table – it isn’t just the preserve of governments and the military”, he added.
According to the survey, 40% of respondents said their organization’s risk level with regard to targeted cyber attacks was very or fairly low, and another 40% rate the risk as medium. Only 14% said that the risk is high, of which only one business responded “very high”.
In addition, many firms remain unconcerned about the direct commercial risks of a cyber attack; theft of IP and other commercially sensitive data such as pricing, bid information, and strategic plans were identified as a concern by only 18%.