Thirteen percent of large businesses have detected unauthorized outsiders,
said the study drawn up by the Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform, pubÂlished at the Infosecurity Europe show in London.
That represents a 10-fold increase in the last two years, warned the report.
“Very large companies remain the main target for hackers and 20 percent detect
hundreds of significant attempts to break into their network every day,” it
said. “Eighty-five percent of very large businesses were attacked. Telecom
proviÂders are most likely to be attacked, three times as likely as average.”
According to the hacking community, only a tiny proportion of penetrations
are detected by network owners, the report added.
“Large corporations are being actively targeted by hackers, often working in
cahoots with organized crime, and looking to steal confidential customer data
which can be used for identity fraud,” Chris Potter, Partner, PricewaterÂhouse-
CÂoopers (PwC) said. The report also found that 96 percent of companies with
more than 500 empÂloyees were affected by security breaches.
The average cost of the worst breach of the year was £15,000 ($30,000 and
€19,000) for small businesses and 1.5 million pounds for very large businesses.
Two thirds of companies were doing nothing to prevent confidential data
leaving on USB memory sticks, while four-fifths of companies that have had
computers stolen have not encrypted their hard drives. Companies were urged to
start taking preventative rather than retrospective action.
Shriti Vadera, Britain's Business Minister said, “New technology is a key
source of productivity gains, but without adequate investment in security
defenses these gains can be undermined by IT security breaches.”
“The survey shows increasing understanding by business of the opportunities
and threats, but challenges remain,” he added.