Recent hacks spur new company cyber spending - survey

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/25/uk-cyber-industry-idUKBREA1O1EN20140225

Almost 60 percent of top firms in the United States, Canada, Britain and
Australia have boosted their spending on cyber defences following the theft
of data of millions of customers from U.S. retailer Target and other big
companies, a report said on Tuesday.

A survey by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence of senior IT officials in
companies ranging from banks to mining, technology and law showed U.S.
firms already spending 15 percent of their entire IT budgets on improving
security. The number looked set to rise.

In the United States, 60 percent of those surveyed said their cyber
security budget would increase as a direct result of recent high-profile
attacks. That compared to 49 percent in Britain, 54 percent in Canada and
64 percent in Australia.

Between November 27 and December 14, U.S. retailer Target lost details of
some 40 million credit and debit card numbers and 70 million customer
details to hackers.

Many other firms including banks have also had data stolen either by
employees or those who broke into their system from outside.

"New technologies, changing business practices and an increasing reliance
on inter-connected critical systems and infrastructure are all increasing
our vulnerability to attack," the report said.

"It will be those organisations that truly integrate security intelligence
into their operations that will reap the benefits and deliver business
growth."

Formerly known as Detica, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence is the cyber arm
of the British defence company.

More than 80 percent of those surveyed expected the number of cyber attacks
to rise. Loss of customer data was by far the greatest concern, followed by
the loss of trade secrets, reputational damage and interruption of service.

In the United States, 29 percent of respondents estimated a successful
cyber attack could cost their organisations more than $75 million (44
million pounds). Almost half said it could cost more than $15 million.

The assessment of threat varied somewhat by region and industry, the report
said. U.S. firms believed intellectual property that was the second
greatest threat to their networks after professional fraudsters while in
Britain that place was held by activists, and in Australia by "hobbyist"
amateur hackers.

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