Most firms 'unaware they have data security problems'

Companies looking to improve their security measures as a result of the recent increases in attacks may be encouraged to take extra precaution against the ongoing threat of cyber crime following recent statements from an expert.

Mark Dempster, associate of the Centre for Cyber Security, suggested the majority of firms may be unaware they have a problem with data protection at all, with some failing to realise they have lost valuable information or that their operations have been compromised.

"Cyber security issues are affecting many areas and the destructive nature of the incident can vary from the annoying, like spam, to the catastrophic - a total loss of the company's critical product design information," he explained.

His comments were made after recent research carried out by AVG Technologies highlighted the extent of financial loss experienced by small to medium-sized businesses in the UK alone due to their failure to take action to improve security.

The findings revealed one in six firms have experienced an IT breach, while collectively lesser-known companies lost 30 million man hours attempting to rectify issues caused by criminal activity.

Mr Dempster stated losing data physically or through cyber attacks can be incredibly difficult for companies due to many of them going unnoticed, thus encouraging firms to feel like there is little progress that can be made.

"The reputational damage in the market or with their direct customers may be too damaging - Sony being a classical example of this," he added.

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