Four in 10 financial institutions worldwide have
suffered at least one security breach within the last year, new
research has revealed.
Nearly half (47%) of respondents to a survey by professional
services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said that they had increased
IT security staff levels over the last year. Eight in 10 firms
planned to adopt public key infrastructure (PKI) technology within
the next 18 months.
Of the security technologies deployed antivirus technology was
the most common (96%), followed by virtual private networks (86%)
and intrusion detection systems (85%).
In developed countries security typically accounts for between
6% and 8% of an organisation's IT budget. The majority of firms
surveyed had appointed a chief security officer, while 14% reported
having more than one CSO.
Despite the layers of security technology marshaled to counter
cyber threats, such as hacking and viruses, business confidence in
security safeguards remains low. Only 35% of respondents said that
they were "somewhat confident" that their organisation was well
protected from external threats.
