One third of CIOs admit falling victim to security breaches

One third of CIOs have admitted that their organisation has fallen victim to a major cyber attack in the past two years, according to the 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey.

Highlighting a 45 per cent increase in attacks compared to 2013, the survey revealed that only one in five IT leaders feel they are 'very well' prepared to respond to a cyber attack, down from 29 per cent in 2014. This suggests that, while IT security threats are rising, organisations are falling behind in their efforts to respond.

Previously, the survey revealed that organised cyber crime and amateur hackers were the top concern among CIOs. While this hasn't changed, the 2017 survey did reveal that the biggest jump in threats comes from insider attacks, increasing from 40 per cent to 47 per cent over the past 12 months.

The survey suggested that larger companies could be more at risk, with more than half stating that they have suffered cyber attacks recently. Specifically, utility companies and government organisations were found to have suffered the highest number of attacks, followed by education, pharmaceutical and telecoms companies.

As a result, it was revealed that CIOs at larger firms are the most likely to invest in cyber security, with 43 per cent of CIOs with an IT budget below $50 million stating that they would invest more in cyber security, while 55 per cent of IT leaders with a budget of $50 million to $200 million would invest more and 53 per cent of CIOs with a budget of $200 million would up their investment.

However, many experts are suggesting this new age of business IT could allow companies to innovate and take the lead in a growing sector.

"They have the opportunity to really drive leadership around innovation," said Lisa Heneghan, global head of technology at KPMG Management Consulting. "They need to be seen to be an innovation leader, and they need to be able to interpret the business challenges and really understand them."