Converged security threats fly under IT managers' radar

A survey conducted by Galaxy Research has found that only 33 percent of IT managers believe converging online threats are a major problem to their companies’ security systems.

Despite their lack of concern, in the month of March alone, security software vendor MessageLabs found 2.9 million spam emails with links to Storm malware were received, proving that these converging security threats are both real and widespread.

MessageLabs’ Philip Routley thinks these results may simply mirror the ever-changing world of breaching techniques, and the managers are just having trouble staying ahead of cybercriminals.

“It’s perhaps just due to a lack of awareness of some of the new techniques that have been put in place,” Routley said. “New security threats are always being developed and it’s difficult for anyone to constantly keep up with.”

The survey included IT Managers from 100 of MessageLabs’ accounts that employed more than 500 people with email access. The managers identified Trojans as the highest security risk with 90 percent responding, followed by spyware at 81 percent, bot and botnets at 70 percent, and phishing at 69 percent.

Routley thinks the results of the survey magnify the need for companies to make sure IT managers keep up with the latest security risks, so they know what to look for as problems arise.

“This survey really just shows a need for more education for those who work in the IT sector,” he said.

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