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Stonesoft : Finnish C-level executives worried about cybercrime
May 2012 by Stonesoft
Finnish C-level executives perceive the risks caused by cybercrime as significant, but feel their own business operations are not specifically under threat. This is the conclusion of Stonesoft’s Cybercrime Barometer carried out by the market research company Taloustutkimus Oy to survey the perceptions of Finland’s Top 500 companies’ executive management regarding cybercrime risks to business operations.
Finnish executives are well aware of cybercrime risks. The barometer indicates that cybercrime risks are perceived by business executives to outweigh the risks related to product development, technology, the business environment and financing.
“Nevertheless, Finnish executives appear to have strong confidence in their companies’ capacity to protect themselves from cybercrime. 91% of the respondents perceived their company’s current protection as adequate,” says Stonesoft CEO Ilkka Hiidenheimo.
According to the Stonesoft Cybercrime Barometer, over 40% of the respondents expect the threats posed by cybercrime to increase at least somewhat in the next 12 months. 25% of the respondents estimated that the threats posed by cybercrime had increased in the past 12 months. Chief Information Security Officer, whose work is closely related to information security issues perceived cybercrime risks as higher than other respondents.
Loss of reputation considered the number one threat
Finnish executives perceive the primary risks caused by cybercrime to be related to reputation loss and problems involving customer data. The threat of cybercrime paralysing business operations was not perceived as realistic.
“Information systems are more and more becoming the foundation of all business operations. Thus, it is surprising and worrying that executives seem to ignore the possibility of cybercrime bringing a business to its knees. If check-out systems are offline, there won’t be any sales and if the ERP system is down, the goods will stop moving,” explains Stonesoft’s Chief Information Security Officer Joona Airamo.
The barometer does indicate that Finnish businesses are taking steps to prepare themselves for threats. During the past 12 months, there has been a slight increase in investments in protection against cybercrime. The industries with the largest increases in protective measures are banking, finance and insurance. The majority of the respondents also expected to increase their investments in protection against cybercrime over the next 12 months.
Stonesoft’s Cybercrime Barometer is based on a survey carried out in March 2012 by Taloustutkimus Oy, with a total of 200 respondents representing C-level, financial and IT management in Finnish Top 500 organizations.
