IT failures cost €500,000 a time but half are ‘avoidable'

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.techcentral.ie/failures-cost-e500000-time-half-avoidable/

Businesses spend an average of €514,000 per IT failure, but 50% of these
incidents are “avoidable”, according to KPMG research.

KPMG tracked major technology incidents faced by businesses and public
sector bodies globally over the last 12 months. It found that on average,
776,000 individuals were affected and around four million bank and credit
card accounts were compromised by each IT failure.

Incidents caused by avoidable problems, such as software coding errors or
failed IT changes, accounted for over 50% of the IT incidents. Of these,
7.3% were the fault of human error, a figure which shows that basic
investments in training are being ignored at the employers’ cost, said KPMG.

Further, while data loss related incidents continued to be a major problem
for all industries, a significant number of those (16%) were unintentional.

“Technology is no longer a function within a business which operates
largely in isolation,” said Jon Dowie, partner, KPMG Technology Risk
practice. “It is at the heart of everything a company does and when it goes
wrong it affects an organisation’s bottom line, its relationship with
customers and its wider reputation.”

“Investment in technology will continue to rise as businesses embrace
digital and other opportunities, but this needs to be matched by
investments in assessing, managing and monitoring the associated risks.”

With financial services under enormous pressure to maintain highly secure
technology infrastructure, KPMG predicts IT complexity will continue to be
the single biggest risk to financial services organisations in the coming
year.

This is closely followed by ineffective governance, risk and non-compliance
with regulations. Security risks, such as cyber-crime and unauthorised
access, are rated fifth.

“With ever greater complexity in IT systems, not to mention the challenge
of implementing IT transformational change, companies are running to stand
still in managing their IT risks — but the cost of failure is all too
clear,” said Dowie.

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