Yes: 79%
No: 21%
The Big Question is an initiative between Computer
Weekly and recruitment consultancy PSD. Each week we put the Big
Question to top IT professionals to get their take on a current
talking point.
Most IT professionals believe that the security risks to their
systems and data are routinely over-hyped, based on responses to
this week's Big Question.
The situation has even prompted many large firms to put
resources into IT security research to separate the serious threats
from those that are just alarmist.
IT manager Nick Discott said, "Systems that are not kept up to
date can be attacked, and the future of security is that it will
become a secure enabler of business, rather than reaching to plug
security breaches after the event."
Some people said that the security risks were wrongly believed
to be over-hyped because corporate IT security departments had been
so successful at combating emerging threats.
IT recruiter Mark Sullivan said, "The trouble with security
threats is that there has not been a massive attack on the internet
recently. IT security prevents large losses from happening and
maybe that is not put across strongly enough."
Many respondents said warnings of impending IT Armageddon were
exaggerated because they had suffered no major problems so far.
The response of a project manager at US aerospace and defence
company Lockheed Martin was typical.
"I do not see IT security as a big problem because there are
adequate solutions available these days to ensure security, but the
problems are still exaggerated."