A new survey from the US firm Lieberman Software Corporation found that 92 percent of IT security people believe that cyber security drills are a good way to prepare for cyber attacks. However, 63 percent of those surveyed admitted that their organizations never run such drills, or only do so annually.
The study, at Black Hat Conference 2015, looked at the attitudes of nearly 150 IT security people. It also suggested that only 11 percent of organizations carry out cyber security drills quarterly, while 26 percent conduct them every six months.
Philip Lieberman, CEO of Lieberman Software, pictured, said: “What concerns me most about this survey is that the majority of IT security professionals fully understand the benefits of running cyber security drills, but only a small percentage actually put these drills into practice. In today’s threat landscape, organizations are attacked continuously. With this in mind, you would think companies would be doing everything they can to limit the damage of potential cyber attacks. However, our study reveals this clearly isn’t the case. And IT teams are fully aware of the consequences.”
The survey also found that IT people often warn their superiors about pending IT security disasters, but think that executive management fails to take action. When respondents were asked about the obstacles they face trying to convince management to proactively deal with cyber threats, responses were as follows:
11 percent said they couldn’t find a way to give IT a place in the corporate board room;
10 percent said they couldn’t find budget to rectify the situation;
12 percent said they couldn’t convince management to understand the severity of cyber threats; and
45 percent said all of the above.
Lieberman added: “IT security is a company-wide issue. Any CEO or corporate board who does not realize this will have a nasty shock when their company is attacked, their share price plummets and they lose customers. Corporate boards should learn about the cyber threats targeting their companies, and should have a good understanding of the company’s IT security posture. Executive management should assume that intruders are already inside their networks. They should ensure that their organizations can contain cyber attacks by securing privileged access, and by removing shared and long-lived credentials that intruders exploit to move around the network. This will mitigate damage and protect the company’s reputation when a cyber attack does occur.”
For more on the survey, see http://go.liebsoft.com/blackhat-security-survey.
