Most IT professionals ‘all talk’ about IT security

12 September 2011

The majority of IT security professionals do not practice what they preach when it comes to combating IT security breaches, a study by Tenable Network Security has found.

More than 90 percent of IT security professionals have discussed large-scale data breaches with senior management, but only 23 per cent did anything beyond that. What is more, although nearly half reported that their organisation has experienced some form of internal IT theft, those that responded to the study ranked preventing insider threats as their second lowest IT security policy.

The report outlines the opinions of IT security professionals about the recent security breaches at Sony, RSA and Citigroup, and tracks views across several industries, including financial services, government, retail and health care. The data was collected at the 2011 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit.

Despite the lack of action to combat IT security breaches, the survey highlighted that IT security professionals are at least taking mobile IT security seriously. The report found that IT security professionals view securing their mobile devices as the number one security priority between now and the end of 2011.

The UK’s expert in managing mobile computing, LapSafe® Products, is keen to emphasise that IT security goes far beyond taking steps to improve data security and hacking. Physical IT security and laptop security, such as laptop lockdowns and security cables, should be an organisation’s first defence against the theft of valuable data. Laptop charging trolleys and laptop carts can also protect mobile IT devices from theft by securing laptops in a metal cabinet designed to resist crowbars and cutting equipment.