An international survey on 104 security professionals conducted by Websense at this year's e-Crime Congress reveals that 93 percent of respondents believe companies are under more pressure to protect against data loss due to the current economic climate.

Furthermore, security professionals also unanimously believe that businesses exposing consumers' confidential data through a serious data breach should be punished for security negligence.

Nearly 30 percent think that CEOs and board members should face imprisonment for exposing consumers' confidential data, (representing an increase of five percent from last year's survey). 62 percent believe companies should be fined. 68 percent call for compensation for the consumers affected.

The survey also reveals that little improvement has been made with regard to organizations' approach to security with more than 50 percent of respondents suggesting this is due to businesses not taking action as they are not legally required to do so.

“This research shows that security is still an important concern to all security professionals,” said Mark Murtagh, Technical Director, Websense. “The call for severe penalties reveal the need for businesses to step up to the mark and better understand the implications of a data breach. By taking active steps like using a DLP solution to trace inbound as well as outbound data leaks, and having visibility of where important and valuable data sits, companies greatly reduce the risk of becoming a statistic,” he added.

Other results
Respondents said that data loss prevention was not a priority until legislation is passed. 46.6 percent of respondents reason that data loss is not a priority because of cost-cutting during the economic downturn. More than half of respondents also think that companies are not taking action against data loss because there are no legal requirements to do so.

Organizations under pressure due to recession

Findings show that 93 percent of those surveyed consider the average organization is under more pressure to protect against data loss as a result of the economic downturn. Key drivers for data loss include:

• Disgruntled employees receiving pay cuts or redundancy (73 percent)
• Employees taking confidential data with them when leaving the company (73 percent)
• Companies not prioritizing security due to cost-cutting measures (62 percent)
• Companies not understanding where confidential data resides due to internal changes (51 percent)

The economic downturn makes organizations more vulnerable. Respondents think that organizations that experience a serious data breach are also more vulnerable to:

• Bankruptcy (52 percent)
• Share price reduction (59 percent)
• Loss of customers (81 percent)
• Risk of take-over (38 percent)

The sample size of this international survey was 104 respondents from 21 countries. All respondents were amongst the delegates who attended one of the world's most influential forums on combating cyber crime, the seventh annual e-Crime Congress London, on March 24 and 25, 2009. These included security professionals from government and public and private sector organizations, as well as senior managers charged with responsibility for risk, audit and compliance.

DQC News Bureau

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