Symantec: 100% of surveyed companies report cyber losses in 2009

David Heath
Monday, 22 February 2010 23:00

Business IT - Security

Symantec's latest "State of Enterprise Security Study" shows frequent, effective attacks on businesses around the world.

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Symantec's latest survey (in January this year) of 2,100 CIOs, CISOs and senior IT managers spread across 27 countries and a variety of business sizes  pains a poor picture of the fight between the good guys and the bad guys.

42 percent of organizations globally and 43 percent in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) rate cyber security as their top issue – the survey included 200 companies in ANZ; security ranged higher than even natural disaster, terrorism and traditional crime.

Putting this in context, 75% world-wide and 89% in ANZ report a cyber attack in 2009 costing an average of $2 million.

To cap the bad news off, most organisations observed that security is becoming tougher due to a combination of understaffing, compliance issues and the endless parade of IT initiatives.

"Protecting information today is more challenging than ever," said Francis deSouza, senior vice president, Enterprise Security, Symantec Corp.  "By putting in place a security blueprint that protects their infrastructure and information, enforces IT policies, and manages systems more efficiently, businesses can increase their competitive edge in today's information-driven world."

Nearly all the enterprises surveyed (94 percent globally and 100 percent in ANZ) forecasted changes to security in 2010, with almost half (48 percent globally and 42 percent in ANZ) expecting major changes.

In addition, 29 percent of enterprises globally and 34 percent in ANZ reported attacks have increased in the last 12 months.