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Wed October 29, 2003 08:30 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Despite the weekly emergence of potent new computer worms and viruses, almost a third of businesses in Western Europe have done nothing to combat the latest digital threats, a study released Wednesday said.
Dutch and British firms have the most lax approach to digital security matters while German and Swedish businesses are the most secure, according to a survey of 200 IT professionals conducted by the McAfee Security division of software firm Network Associates.
The spotlight on corporate security has intensified in recent months with the emergence of a barrage of worms and viruses, or Internet-borne contagions.
Sobig.F and Blaster crippled computer systems over a few weeks this summer, inflicting billions of dollars worth of damage.
Blaster knocked some 80 Finnish branches of Nordic bank Nordea offline in August for a day.
Referred to as a blended threat because it attacks both computer desktops and corporate networks, Blaster and its ilk are considered to be the biggest security threat to computer users.
The survey, conducted in late August of 200 IT security officials from Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands and the United Kingdom, said 28 percent of the respondents do not have any fortifications in place to prevent blended threats.
The level of preparedness varies by country, with 12 percent of German firms saying they remain undefended from such attacks while 42 percent of British firms and 43 percent of Dutch firms are unprotected.
The UK and Netherlands are particularly at risk for the next generation of blended threats because they are not engaging in strategies that could pre-empt these (intrusions), said Christopher Thompson, vice president of marketing for Network Associates' unit Sniffer Technologies.
The UK also tops the list as the corporate sector with the most porous defense against bulk e-mail known as spam. According to the survey, 40 percent of UK companies have not deployed a spam filter, while 28 percent of UK firms said they have no plan to install such measures in the next 12 months.
The rise of spam has become an urgent issue for law makers and business leaders. A rash of e-mail fraud scams have emerged in recent months, targeting customers of online banks. Spam e-mails are sent en masse to computer users, hoping to dupe some to divulge their credit card and banking details.
Reuters
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