Security Executives List Worms, Viruses and Regulatory Compliance as Top Issues for 2005
New York City, NY – December 8, 2004 – Worms, viruses and regulatory compliance topped the list of concerns of more than 85 Chief Security Officers who met yesterday in New York City for the second CSO Interchange. Participants at CSO Interchange discussed a wide variety of security issues that affect their organizations and revealed their top-of-mind concerns through interactive surveys conducted at the event.
Founded by former White House advisor Howard Schmidt and Qualys CEO Philippe Courtot, CSO Interchange provides a forum for Chief Security Officers at corporations, government agencies and other organizations to exchange ideas, discuss challenges and learn from the real-world experiences of their peers. The second CSO Interchange forum was sponsored by Qualys with the participation of the Executive Alliance. The first CSO Interchange was held in San Francisco in June, 2004.
“In most cases, the CSO is the individual responsible for bridging technical security issues with bottom-line business challenges,” said Jaime Chanaga, CSO at Geisinger Health System. “Issues such as cyberattacks, online fraud and zero day exploits can have billion-dollar impacts and deserve the full attention of the organization. As CSOs, we need a direct link to our corporate boards and to each other to make more informed decisions. Sharing information about security issues and openly discussing solutions helps us make more informed decisions that will better protect our organizations and the customers we serve.”
During CSO Interchange, more than 85 Chief Security Officers were polled on issues ranging from disaster recovery to regulatory compliance. Complete survey results are available upon request from the CSO Interchange media contacts.
While 61% of CSOs said their security budgets increased over the past year, 84% of attendees feel their security programs are still under funded. Although 69% of the CSOs surveyed were concerned about online fraud at their organizations, less than half of the respondents felt their organizations were doing everything they could to prevent the issue and 54% have not rolled out additional defenses to avoid phishing scams.
Additional survey highlights include:
· 58% of CSOs rated worms, viruses, Trojan horses, and regulatory compliance as their top security concerns.
· 62% of CSOs believe they do not get sufficient early warning for major cyberattacks.
· 69% said their jobs have become more difficult over the past year.
· 80% of CSOs reported that cyber attacks had a bottom-line financial impact on their organizations.
· 81% of attendees said security was a part of their company’s Sarbanes-Oxley reporting.
· CSOs reported that 82% of their top executives are concerned about data privacy.
“Today’s CSOs are facing similar obstacles and issues across varied industries and businesses. With CSO Interchange we have created an open environment where CSOs can interact with their peers and freely discuss the issues they face,” said Philippe Courtot, co-founder of CSO Interchange and CEO of Qualys. “CSO Interchange has been well received by the participants, and we plan to hold these forums on a regular basis to continue providing top security officers with an environment where they can exchange ideas.”
About CSO Interchange
Howard Schmidt, former White House advisor and Philippe Courtot, Qualys Chairman and CEO, heard countless tales about security professionals tackling similar problems, reinventing the wheel, or worse, learning from disastrous mistakes that might have been avoided. Chief Security Officers face unique challenges, but need not face them alone. Believing security executives could benefit by exchanging ideas with one another, Schmidt and Courtot formed CSO Interchange. The result is an intimate, high-level forum to take place in a no-sales-pitch environment. More information about CSO Interchange can be found at www.csointerchange.org.