Moscow-based computer security company Kaspersky Lab has said that 91% of companies across the world saw an IT security event from an external source in the last 12 months.
In its report, ‘Global IT Security Risks’ , Kaspersky said that the most common security threat comes in the form of viruses, spyware and other malicious programs.
The survey was conducted by Kaspersky Lab in partnership with research agency B2B International. More than 1,300 IT professionals in 11 countries participated in the survey.
The study found that 31% of malware attacks resulted in some form of data loss, with 10% of companies reporting the loss of sensitive business data. Kaspersky also said that only 70% of companies have implemented anti-malware protection fully across their businesses, while 3% have no protection at all.
The level of anti-malware implementation varies from country to country: in emerging markets 65% of companies have adopted it, while in the UK and US levels of implementation stood at 92% and 82% respectively. Despite this, the vast majority of companies still experienced an IT security breach in the last 12 months, and almost a third lost business information, said the company.
Kaspersky Lab Market Intelligence & Insight director Alexander Erofeev said such an attitude is surprising when it is known that almost half of all organisations see cyber-threats as one of the top-three emerging risks.
Erofeev said, "The most likely explanation is underinvestment in IT security."
The study found that every second company evaluates its IT security budget as insufficient, and estimates that an increase of 25% or more is required.
Currently, the average investment in IT security is reported to be $8,055 for small businesses, $83,200 for medium-sized companies and $3,263,476 for large corporations.
The study also found that almost half of surveyed professionals reported an increase in the number of IT security accidents during the last 12 months. On the contrary, only 8% saw a decrease.
