Poor Communication Poses A Security Risk For 40% Of UK Firms

There is a huge communication gap between IT security professionals and executive teams that leaves companies susceptible to data theft, according to a new survey.

The report, "Roadblocks, Refresh & Raising the Human Security IQ," was commissioned by the Ponemon Institute and asked nearly 5,000 global IT professionals for their thoughts on the biggest security challenges.

John McCormack, CEO of Websense, highlighted some of the key findings from the survey.

"This Ponemon Institute security survey highlights that a lack of communication, education and inadequate security systems is making it possible for cyber criminals to attack organizations across the globe," he said. "It's not surprising that many security professionals are disappointed with the level of protection their current solutions provide, as many still use legacy solutions that cannot disrupt the kill chain to prevent data theft."

The findings reveal that the communication gap in the UK is amongst the worst in the world. 40 per cent of UK cyber security teams never speak with their executive team about online security, compared to 31 per cent globally.

Similarly, if they were given the opportunity, 36 per cent of UK respondents would do a complete overhaul of their current enterprise security systems.

Despite the statistic that 49 per cent of firms said they were planning to make significant investments to their cyber defences, the survey highlights some worrying trends for IT security in the UK.

A full version of the report is available here.