A new study has found that most companies still use outdated security to combat cyber threats, although most acknowledge that they are aware they need to make improvements.
In a recently released report, the company CounterTack surveyed 100 executives at companies with revenue higher than $100 million a year. The executives were asked about the state of cyber security at their company.
About half of the executives reported their company had been attacked within the past 12 months. One third of the executives said they are not confident that they systems they have in place can handle cyber attacks, while 84% admitted their companies are vulnerable to threats to intellectual property.
Another 44% said they felt they were not putting in the proper time and resources into cyber security. Many of them said they planned to rectify that situation, which could mean more opportunities for those with cyber security training.
Some companies have farther to go than others, however.
“While the willingness of information security executives to explore new ways of dealing with targeted advanced threats in the coming months is an encouraging finding, it’s also evident that economic constraints and outmoded thinking will remain stumbling blocks,” said Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst at IT-Harvest, in a news release announcing the report.
Four out of the five executives said they would be open to adopting a military-style approach to handling their company’s cyber security issues, including pro-active intelligence gathering. A majority admitted to practicing a more protective stance, using tactics such as firewalls.
The CounterTack survey also found that 36% of the executives felt if a cyber attack managed to penetrate the firewall, the company would be unable to detect or stop the attack. CounterTack is one of many private security firms, according to a report on CNN.com, that advocates gathering intelligence on attacks as they are happening as a method of defense in combination with protective measures.
