Data loss doubles in financial services sector

Almost twice as many financial services companies suffered information theft, loss or attack in the past 12 months than in the previous year, according to a new conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and security company Kroll.

The report found that 42% of financial services companies surveyed have suffered data loss in the past year, compared to 24% in the previous survey. This was a greater a proportion than in any other sector.

Across all sectors the incidence of information theft, loss or attack rose from 18% in 2009 to 27.3% in 2010.

Of the 800 companies surveyed, 48% intend to spend more on information security in the coming 12 months. Interestingly, this is down slightly from 51% last year.

The study analysed all types of fraud, of which data loss was the most common, and calculated their combined impact on business. It estimated that on average businesses lost $1.7 million to fraud for every billion dollars of revenue they earned.

Pete Swabey

Pete Swabey

Pete was Editor of Information Age and head of technology research for Vitesse Media plc from 2005 to 2013, before moving on to be Senior Editor and then Editorial Director at The Economist Intelligence...

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