A recent report on a survey conducted among 600 executives of major companies in the utility, energy, manufacturing and oil and gas, revealed that at least 70 percent of the firms have had security breaches in the past year in which they lost confidential information and critical data.
The survey conducted by Unisys and the Ponemon Institute, included executives from major infrastructure firms and the findings reveal that the companies are expecting more attacks in the near future. The hackings in the recent past has led to not only loss of confidential information but also disruption in the routine operations of the companies.
Chairman and Co-founder of Ponemon Institute claimed the revelations of the survey to be “startling” as these are major industries which keep the economy running and any disruption in these industries could cause undesirable results.
Among the 600 respondents, 64 percent executives have mentioned that they are expecting more attacks in the coming year. But still, only 28 percent of them have included security measures among the top five priorities of the company.
The rest of them have their focus on reducing downtime while the most needed measure is securing information which can automatically help reduce downtime.
A majority of the respondents have also mentioned that internal accidents and mistake by staff are often the cause for vulnerability. They have also stated that negligent handling of systems by the staff is the major threat to the security of their information.
Only 1 in 6 of the respondents has stated that the cybersecurity programs are established and only 6 percent of the participants offer security training to its employees regularly.
Unisys Chief Information Officer said that internal threats are equally devastating as those from outside regardless of whether they are malicious or accidental.
