Nine in 10
UK financial firms have basic IT security flaws, leaving them wide
open to hackers, a new report claims.
Despite being one
of heaviest investors in technology industry sector, 94% of
financial firms tested in a cross-industry report by NTA monitor
had basic security flaws in their network safeguards.
Nearly one-third
(31%) of financial firms tested were found to have at least 10
security flaws, making them more vulnerable to hackers and a
resulting disruption of online services. And in other key areas of
security financial firms did not fare any better - the firewalls of
half of those tested had security holes.
But despite these
areas of concern the financial sector, alongside the IT and
telecommunications sectors, emerged at the top of the security
league when judged overall, compared with other market sectors.
Other sectors –
government, legal, manufacturing and services – lagged behind the
financial and IT industries in the security report, based on an
analysis of more than 600 NTA monitor clients in a range of
industries.
“Although the
financial sector performed among the best overall, on closer
analysis we found that excellent performance in some areas masked
worrying gaps in others,” said Roy Hills, technical director at NTA
Monitor.
“Tighter security
across all areas needs to be made a priority today and the holes
plugged quickly, or this could become a turkey shoot for
hackers.”