Malware and compliance issues swamp firms

Three-quarters of firms have suffered a malware infection or data leak in the last year

Internet attacks, data leaks and compliance breaches are still creating major headaches for IT departments, according to a recent report.

In a recent survey of IT professionals by security firm FaceTime, 73 per cent of respondents admitted their firm suffered at least one malware infection, compliance breach or data leak in the last year.

Of those surveyed, 59 per cent said that their company had dealt with a virus, Trojan or worm infection. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents said that they had dealt with an adware attack.

Compliance issues and data leaks also continue to plague many organisations. The survey found that, on average, IT departments deal with non-compliance or data leak issues 34 times per month. In companies with more than 5,000 employees, the average doubles.

In companies of more than 5,000 employees, 76 per cent of IT admins said that employees are well aware of corporate internet usage policies. However, only 53 per cent feel that users comply with usage policies, and just 37 per cent said that users were properly trained on how to keep their systems protected from attack.

For the smallest firms, numbering under 100 employees, the number of firms who believe employees are aware of policies was 69 per cent, but the compliance and security training estimates were higher, at 59 and 44 per cent respectively.

"There are notable differences in IT’s assessment of end user awareness and the effectiveness of corporate policies based on company size," concluded the report.

"Regardless of company size, one in three IT respondents believe that policies are ineffective methods for controlling end user downloading of applications."

The results support those from a recent Cisco survey, which found that many users continue to ignore IT policies and engage in risky behavior on company systems.