Threat of Security Breach Keeping Execs Up at Night

Threat of security breach keeping execs up at night Study shows majority have business continuity plan A study from AT&T indicates the majority of business executives in the Greater Toronto Area are prepared for unexpected events with 77 per cent saying they have a business continuity plan in place, yet 34 per cent say it's not a priority. According to a survey conducted by AT&T of 100 business executives in the Toronto region regarding business continuity and disaster recovery planning, 66 per cent of Canadian IT executives say business continuity is a priority, with 30 per cent indicating that it has moved up on the priority list due to recent natural disasters or terrorist threats.

Additionally, the majority of respondents are well prepared for such events, as 77 per cent indicated they already had a plan in place, 54 per cent of which have been updated in the past 12 months. However, more work is needed on this front in Canada. Despite the fact that 31 per cent of respondents have suffered a natural or man-made disaster, a surprising 34 per cent do not consider business continuity to be a priority.

Further, although more than half of executives surveyed represent companies with international operations, only nine per cent of all surveyed executives are implementing business continuity solutions globally. When asked about the most concerning issues around business continuity, security was at the top of their list. Respondents revealed that worrying about security breaches (27 per cent) and viruses/ worms (24 per cent) were most likely to keep them up at night. In fact, 71 per cent believe that viruses and worms are the most significant security threats, followed by hackers (43 per cent). As a result, three out of four executives indicated cyber security is part of the company's business continuity plan which, for 58 per cent of respondents, includes employee education and using an outside service provider to manage security (29 per cent).

The good news is that most Canadian IT executives are taking a proactive stance for business continuity - they've taken action to maintain 'business as usual' in the event of the next earthquake, blackout or cyber security attack, said Steven Taylor, vice-president of sales, AT&T Global Services Canada. Unfortunately, many companies are still in the dark about the importance of implementing business continuity solutions before disaster strikes, putting the future of their business at great risk.

From floods and fires to strikes and security breaches, disasters are a reality, and every company needs to ensure that it is equipped to handle anything that comes its way. Other key survey findings include • Twenty-one per cent of Canadian IT executives do not have a business continuity plan in place. • Almost one fifth (17 per cent) indicated the plan has never been tested.

Respondents cited blackouts (29%) and cyber attacks (11 per cent) as the most frequently experienced disasters. Perceived threats to cyber security include internal sabotage (31 per cent), internal accidents (28 per cent), spam (25 per cent) and denial of service attacks (24 per cent), yet only 12 per cent of respondents said worrying about man-made disasters was most likely to keep them up at night. 70 per cent of IT executives surveyed have already implemented Internet security measures and 59 per cent have established redundant servers or back up sites as part of their business continuity activities.

"The above newsclip is distributed to educate and inform. This does not imply accuracy nor endorsement of the views by AT&T."