Business continuity planning and cybersecurity top of mind for London businesses

(30/07/2007)

According to AT&T research, business continuity planning is seen as a priority by 76 percent of IT executives in London.

Detailed results of the AT&T 2007 Business-Continuity Study show that business- continuity planning has always been a priority for almost half (46 percent) of the companies interviewed. Nearly one-third (30 percent) indicate that business-continuity planning has become a priority in recent years because of natural disasters, security and terrorist threats.

Key findings show that:
• More than eight out of 10 (83 percent) London executives indicate that their company has a business plan in place.
• The majority (72 percent) of companies have had these plans updated in the past 12 months, and more than half (52 percent) have had them tested during the same time.
• More than three out of four (79 percent) indicate that cybersecurity is part of their company’s overall business-continuity plan, and a majority (51 percent) view cybersecurity as a key concern.
• Sixty-two percent of surveyed IT executives say that viruses and worms are the most significant perceived threats to cybersecurity, followed by hackers (39 percent).

The types of business-continuity measures that companies have already taken in London include having implemented Internet security measures (81 percent), established backup and restore procedures (80 percent), educated employees (76 percent), established procedures for off-site storage and recovery of backup data (76 percent), established redundant servers and/or backup sites (67 percent), implemented protection against DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) (67 percent) and used a service provider for outsourcing (49 percent).

Actions that London companies have taken when it comes to cybersecurity include educating employees (69 percent), defining corporate security policies (67 percent) and contracting with an outside service provider to manage security (31 percent).

When asked what would keep IT executives up at night, one-third (34 percent) answered security breaches, followed by viruses/worms (22 percent), man-made disasters (17 percent), corporate/e-commerce sites crashing (9 percent) and natural disasters (9 percent).

“It is extremely encouraging to learn that the majority of organisations that we talked to in London have business-continuity plans in place and review and test them,” said John Slamecka, vice president of, AT&T Europe, Middle East & Africa. “I am not that surprised to see that cybersecurity is top of mind. We find that this is a common concern for our customers around the world, and AT&T continues to work closely with our customers to provide comprehensive and robust network and IT security solutions.”

Related topics:  Computer and PC Security   Hacking and intrusion prevention   Mobile and Wireless Security   Network Security   Virus, Worm, Email security, spyware and malware 

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