News | 13 Nov 2009 :
Three quarters of senior IT executives are worried that ex-employees will take revenge against the businesses they used to work for, according to research.
The Ernst & Young Global Information Security Survey also said that 42% of companies were trying to understand the potential risks of the issue, while 26% were taking steps to try and do something about it.
Richard Brown, partner in IT risk advisory at Ernst & Young, said in a statement that with the economy still in recession, former employees could feel "resentful" towards their previous employer.
"Increasingly, the employer's IT system has become a common target and data theft is also prevalent," he said.
"It is paramount that companies undertake a specific risk assessment exercise to identify their potential exposure and put in place appropriate risk-based responses."
The survey also revealed that businesses still found it difficult to give security enough funding, with half of the respondents calling it a "significant challenge" - a 17% increase from last year's research findings.
"Information security today already requires a lot more investment, as organisations race to catch up with an accelerating threat landscape, after a much delayed start," added Brown.
One of the important drivers of this investment was regulatory compliance, and more than half (55%) said that government and industry led regulations accounted for moderate to significant increases in spending.
Yet even with this spending, only 41% of companies bothered to encrypt their laptops, with just 17% planning to do so next year.
Given the affordability and availability of the technology this is surprising, especially considering the number of breaches that occur due to lost or stolen laptops.