Bank survey finds many tech companies preparing for cyber attacks

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.ababj.com/technology-channel/item/4141-bank-survey-finds-many-tech-companies-preparing-for-cyber-attacks

Most technology and healthcare companies view cyber security as a serious
threat to both their data and business continuity, and only one-third are
completely confident in the security of their information, says Silicon
Valley Bank, Santa Clara, Calif., in a survey of more than 200 technology
company executives.

“The survey shows us the threat of a cyber attack is not just hype. A
surprising number of technology companies we heard from say the threat to
their IP and their business is very serious,” says Bob Curley, managing
director of corporate finance for Silicon Valley Bank. “Companies in the
tech sector, particularly software companies, are feeling exposed, and
increasingly having to expend resources to manage cyber attacks, rather
than investing in the growth of their business. That’s a huge impact on a
growing company, and eventually the economy overall.”

Nearly all (98%) of companies are maintaining or increasing their cyber
security resources and of those, half are increasing resources devoted to
online attacks this year. Resources are most likely to be invested in
monitoring, preventative policies, training, and staffing rather than in
preventative infrastructure, indicating they are planning for when, not if,
they are attacked.

While most respondents were moderately confident in the security of their
information, they were less confident in their partners’, vendors’, and
clients’ security measures. Most respondents are storing their data
privately, showing a lower appetite for storing their information in the
public cloud. Software companies were the exception with 59% using the
public cloud, versus more private behavior by hardware, healthcare and
cleantech companies.

Forty-six percent of companies, whose main offering is not security,
include cyber security functionality in their product and 8% more plan to
add a cyber security component to their core offering.

The study, based on a survey of 216 executives of technology-based
companies, is the first in a series of pulse surveys of Silicon Valley
Bank’s clients intended to give similar firms adequate benchmarks to
compare themselves against as they build and run their businesses.

The full report, “Cyber Security Impact on Innovation,” was part of a
discussion led by SVB between Silicon Valley-based CEOs, and Michael
Daniel, special assistant to President Obama and cybersecurity coordinator
on Sept. 20. The group discussed the impact of cyber security threats and
attacks on growing and established technology companies.

_______________________________________________
Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () datalossdb org)
Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/
Unsubscribe at http://lists.osvdb.org/mailman/listinfo/dataloss
For inquiries regarding use or licensing of data, e-mail
        sales () riskbasedsecurity com 

Supporters:

# OWASP http://www.appsecusa.org
# Builders, Breakers and Defenders
# Time Square, NYC 20-21 Nov
o()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>

Risk Based Security (http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/)
Risk Based Security offers security intelligence, risk management services and customized security solutions. The 
YourCISO portal gives decision makers access to tools for evaluating their security posture and prioritizing risk 
mitigation strategies. Cyber Risk Analytics offers actionable threat information and breach analysis.