23 business attitudes to IT security

You are a businessman or an expert responsible for critical decisions related to IT security, but you have a tough schedule. You are hunting for any piece of information that will illuminate the latest trends and facilitate obtaining more expertise in this field, but don't have time for visiting profile events or learning new technologies. Still you have to be aware about the actual situation around cyber security. Kaspersky Lab research might help you - it reflects what other IT specialists and business leaders, probably your colleagues or partners, thought about the IT security situation in 2012.

This serves as a good source for analyses to take some expert protection steps in future, especially considering these two proven facts - in 2012 35% of companies lost data because of malware attacks and 25% business data due to un-patched software vulnerabilities.

Top business risks:

• 50% of companies agree that cyber-threats are the second business risk and it is only inferior to economic instability (55%)
• 37% of companies seriously care about damage to brand and reputation that may be caused by cyber-security problems
• 31% of companies are afraid of intellectual property theft
• 26% of companies think that fraud can be a serious risk for businesses

External threats:

• 61% of companies experienced malware attacks in 2012 and 35% of them did lose data because of malware attacks
• 56% of companies were disturbed by spam
• 35% of companies confirmed that phishing was a problem
• 23% of companies consider network intrusion to be one more external threat
• 20% of companies registered mobile device theft that could lead to corporate data loss

Internal threats:

• 40% of companies experienced situations when vulnerable software could make damage and 25% of respondents did lose business data due to unpatched software vulnerabilities
• 31% of companies experienced accidental staff-caused data leaks
• 29% of companies suffered an internal threat - employees losing mobile devices
• 25% of companies experienced loss of other equipment
• 21% of companies were victims of intentional data leaks

Top concerns of IT staff:

• 31% of IT professionals were concerned about preventing IT security breaches
• 27% of IT professionals cared about data protection
• 23% of IT professionals worried about return on investment made for IT security
• 23% of IT professionals were thinking about importance of understanding new technologies
• 22% of IT professionals cared about future investments in IT Security

Top IT security measures:

• 67% of companies not only used anti-malware protection but also named it top security measure
• 62% of companies implemented patch management and consider this to be very important for protection
• 45% of companies consider implementing access levels as one of their priorities
• 45% of companies would prefer to separate critical infrastructure
• 44% of companies applied encryption of sensitive data

The survey involved over 3,300 IT specialists in 22 countries worldwide and was conducted in conjunction with Kaspersky Lab. The participants represented all business sizes: small, medium and enterprise. The full version of the report of the results of the survey by B2B International in July 2012 is available here.