Data breaches cost the world's companies an estimated
£700bn in 2008, according to a study on information economies by
security firmMcAfee.
The estimate is based on a survey of more than 800 IT decision
makers in the UK, US, Germany, Japan, China, India, Brazil and
Dubai.
Those surveyed put combined losses in 2008 at £3.2bn worth of
intellectual property and said they had spent around £421m
repairing damage from data breaches.
Dave DeWalt, president and chief executive of McAfee, said
increased pressures on firms to reduce spending and cut staffing
have led to more porous defences and increased opportunity for
crime.
"Companies need to stop looking at security as a cost centre but
as a business enabler," he said.
Intellectual property at risk
The Unsecured Economies report found that recession puts
intellectual property at risk.
Organisations are worried about the global financial crisis and
its impact on the security of information.
Some 39% of survey respondents said information is more
vulnerable in the current economic climate.
The study also found that commitment to protecting information
varies, with developing countries spending more on protecting
intellectual property than their Western counterparts.
Worst rated countries
The survey showed Pakistan, China and Russia were the worst
rated countries for protecting digital assets and had the worst
reputations for investigating data breaches.
This means that any company offshoring operations must
understand the risks and put the necessary controls in place to
manage risk and prevent data loss, said Greg Day, security analyst
at McAfee.
Intellectual property is an international currency, increasingly
becoming a target for organised cyber mafia gangs using
sophisticated phishing techniques, the report said.
Although 39% of respondents said their top concern was
protecting their intellectual property from external data thieves,
42% identified laid-off employees as the biggest threat.
Data policy
An increasing number of financially challenged employees are
likely to use their corporate data access to steal information as
the global recession continues, the report said.
Geopolitical perceptions are also influencing data policy, the
report found.
China, Pakistan, and Russia were identified by companies
surveyed as trouble zones for various legal, cultural and economic
reasons.
More than a quarter said they avoided storing intellectual
property in China. Yet 47% of Chinese respondents believed the US
posed the biggest threat to their intellectual property.