Nearly one-fifth of IT professionals fear their businesses may never re-open for business or would fail shortly after a major security breach, as a direct consequence of that breach, a new survey shows.
The IP EXPO security index survey was conducted among IT professionals from businesses of all sizes and sectors on behalf of Imago Techmedia, organiser of the forthcoming end-to-end infrastructure show IP EXPO, to illustrate the all-pervasive nature of IT security and how important it is to IT professionals in all roles.
“Respondents to our survey overwhelmingly agreed that IT security should not be viewed as an isolated activity, but would best be treated as an integrated part of businesses’ entire technology reviews and processes,” said Mike England, Social Business and Content Director at IP EXPO event organiser Imago Techmedia.
“SECURITY 11 at IP EXPO is a not-to-be-missed event for vendors and end users alike, because it involves you in the security debate in its wider context, rather than addressing the issue exclusively from the perspective of an information security professional.”
Other findings include:
70% said they believed security would be best considered collaboratively and routinely across all aspects of ICT.
47% said they believed their own organisations needed more security-related collaboration between different ICT disciplines.
44% of respondents stated that at least a quarter of their jobs involved IT security. For 23%, security took up more than half their time.
23% of respondents said that their approaches to compliance compromised their security.
26% said mobile devices such as smartphones and laptops posed the highest risk of data loss to their businesses.
18% said memory sticks being used for data theft posed the highest risk to their businesses.
68% said they viewed IT security as “a necessary evil”.
“Given the attention and money poured into security for many years now, the headline figure comes as quite a shock,” said Mike England.
“It is when we get into the detail, the myriad ways in which security is – or isn’t – addressed, that we see how such a figure can be reached. In many cases, responsibility for security is distributed throughout ICT departments, or even throughout businesses, and that’s why a whopping 70% of our respondents have stated a desire for organisations to address security from a holistic and collaborative perspective. This is a point our speakers and exhibitors will undoubtedly address at IP EXPO and SECURITY 11,” he added.
Staff Writer
