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Financially sensitive data breaches are set to cost organisations 20 per cent more each year until 2009, according to new industry estimates. Gartner says corporate investment in IT defences such as intrusion prevention, vulnerability management and network access have so far paid off. But the analyst said “simple” worm or virus attacks are a precursor to financially motivated attacks that are often being unreported because of the “enormous damage” they cause. By implementing rigorous security, vulnerability and identity policies, Gartner believes 90% of these financially motivated attacks can be avoided without extra security spending. Currently the average enterprise spends more than 5% of the IT budget on security and close to 12% if disaster recovery spending is included. But the analyst cautioned it “has seen little or no correlation between enterprises that spend the most on security and enterprise that are the most secure.” This suggests that while there are core areas that require additional spending, “there are just as many areas of security that can be done more efficiently.” Ray Wagner, managing vice president for Gartner, said: “The most effective ways to become more secure while reducing security spending are to avoid vulnerabilities — to ensure that security is a top requirement for every new application, process or product, whether built in-house or acquired from a vendor. “Just as important is understanding where security funds are being spent and where that spending is effective or ineffective. Security metrics should be established for all major security spending areas.” Gartner recommends that the approach to security needs to move from a “reactive” approach to a mix of “strategic planning and rapid tactical execution.” “The biggest attack risk to enterprises comes from targeted attacks,” said John Pescatore, vice president of Gartner. “In addition, phishing and identity theft attacks have caused the rise of ‘credentialed’ attacks, in which the attacker uses the credentials of a legitimate user.” “The key is to identify major technology changes and start taking steps to reduce the cost of dealing with today’s mature threats — viruses, worms and denial-of-service attacks — to free up funding and manpower to influence the new systems and business processes that are being built today and that will bring on the next generation of threats.” Oct 16, 2007 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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