Cyber crime the greatest global threat to business today – EY survey

With information security functions not fully meeting the needs in 83pc of organisations, 93pc of companies globally are maintaining or increasing their investment in cyber security to combat the ever growing threat of attack, according to a recent survey released by EY.

‘Under cyber attack. EY’s Global Information Security Survey 2013’ tracks the level of awareness and action by companies in response to cyber threats and canvases the opinion of over 1,900 senior executives across 64 countries.

The respondents included a number of Irish organisations across major industry sectors such as financial services, utilities and technology.

"The ever increasing reliance of business on IT, rising complexity in supply chains, rapid changes in technology and an aggressive cyber threat environment mean that this issue is going to get worse before it gets better. It is no longer a question of if, but when, a company will be the target of cyber-attacks,” said Ivan O’Brien, director at EY Advisory Services.

Austerity measures brought on by the global economic crisis has increased the risk of security breaches that benefit cyber criminals, such as those involving bank accounts or payment card data.

Despite half of the respondents planning to increase their budget by 5pc or more in the next 12 months, 65pc cite insufficient budgets as their No 1 challenge in order to operate at the level business expects.

This challenge exists against a backdrop where 65pc of Irish organisations cite an increase in external security threats and 35pc of Irish organisation cite an increase in internal vulnerabilities in the past year. 



Hugh Callaghan, director, EY EMEIA financial services advisory added: “Ireland is rightly making a big economic play in the hi-tech and software sectors, but in order for this to be sustainable it has to be built on solid foundations of strong cyber security.”