<table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody><tr><td class="contentheading" width="100%"><a href="http://www.itbrief.co.nz/200903253320/cyber-attacks-dominate-security-woes.php">http://www.itbrief.co.nz/200903253320/cyber-attacks-dominate-security-woes.php</a><br>
Cyber attacks dominate security woes </td>
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Written by Kelly Gregor </span>
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Wednesday, 25 March 2009 </td>
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<p>
Cyber risks have become the biggest IT security threat to New Zealand businesses, Symantec says.
</p>
<p>
The
anti-virus provider released the results of its 2009 Managed Security
in the Enterprise Report today, which showed cyber risks and actual
attacks had vastly increased over the past two years.
</p>
<p>Nearly all the organisations questioned by Symantec reported a loss
in revenue due to heightened threats and decreased consumer trust.
</p>
<p>Symantec said inadequate budgets, increased regulatory pressures and
staffing problems were the main issues in monitoring cyber threats.
</p>
<p>Symantec Asia Pacific and Japan senior manager Peter Sparkes said
New Zealand businesses were no longer isolated from trojans and worms
that had previously targeted larger more multi-national companies.
</p>
<p>Sparks said small companies were now being targeted as much as major
financial and government institutions because the value of personal
data and information had increased.
</p>
<p>He said viruses used to be aimed at creating havoc, where as today
it is intended for a more malicious purpose such as extracting detailed
personal information to be sold.
</p>
<p>“Companies in NZ are as much affected as anyone else. It’s all one
domain now. Gone are the days when this only happened to financial
services.”
</p>
<p>Sparks said Symantec had received reports that the majority of
companies questioned had lost money due to cyber threats and attacks.
</p>
<p>“Businesses aren’t as trusted. This is having a significant impact
on productivity and businesses have seen a direct loss from it.
Customers are less trusting and in turn this affects the company’s
brand and market position.”
</p>
<p>More than 80% of companies surveyed reported an increase in cyber
attacks, where as 31% saw attacks on a regular basis and 10% claimed to
have suffered form an extreme amount of attacks.
</p>
<p>Symantec ranked cyber attacks as twice as likely to affect
businesses as traditional crime such as burglary and natural disasters
and four times more likely than terrorism.
</p>
<p>Symantec managed services vice president Grant Geyer said: “IT
management in large enterprises is caught between a rock and a hard
place.
</p>
<p>“Cyber security is a growing problem, yet organisations are having
trouble addressing the problem. Managed security services provide a way
for many organisations to close the gap and ensure their information
and assets are protected,” Geyer said.
</p>
<p>
The report was based on a study of 1000 IT managers in the US and Europe during January 2009.
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