Security Response

So, you think that there’s a magic bullet to deal with IT risk? In fact you probably wish there was, but since you don’t believe in Santa Claus, you know there isn’t! Of course that doesn’t stop people from looking for a quick technology fix. However, the latest Symantec IT Risk Management Report reveals that technology is not necessarily the issue. The report cites a study conducted jointly by Symantec and MIT’s Center for Information Research, showing that the majority (53 percent) of IT incidents have a process-based cause. Interestingly, the report also shows that organizations believe their technological effectiveness is declining. Last year’s number one effective control set was network, protocol, and host security. It’s still up there at the top, but there’s been a reduction of 16 percent in those who think they’re more than 90 percent effective (down from 47 percent to 31 percent).

Experience shows that it’s a balance of technology, process, and...

So you think that risk is all about security? Well, we deal with risks to our personal security every day – each time we cross the road! But ask someone to think about more impersonal risk, like that to IT, and it becomes difficult to define what we mean.

The latest Symantec IT Risk Management Report aims to build a common understanding about IT risk, which it views as consisting of four elements: security, performance, availability, and compliance. When most people consider the risk to their IT systems, they immediately think about security and the need to keep bad things out and good things in. However, the report shows that concerns about availability risk have now come to the fore—78 percent of participants saw it as a serious or critical risk to their business. This makes a lot of sense when you know what it can cost your business if you lose the...