Firms patching high-risk vulnerabilities but ignoring rest

But according to research from NTA Monitor, firms are ignoring basic security flaws and are at considerable risk of attack. The report said that high-level flaws have dropped over the last four years, down from 21 per cent in 2001, to 6.0 per cent in 2003 and 3.9 per cent in 2004.

"I think one of the things on the positive side is we've seen a downturn in finding high vulnerabilities," said Steven Matthews, account manager for NTA monitor. "What that shows is, our clients at least, are working hard to get the messages right and to make things difficult for intruders. Although this initially looks good, companies are neglecting the mid-level risks."

The research stated almost a third (32.8 per cent) of corporate networks tested by NTA Monitor were found to have at least ten flaws. Medium-risk flaws were found in 74.3 per cent of tests and a low risk vulnerability of some kind was found in every test performed.

NTA carried out 490 perimeter security tests in the public and private sector.

www.nta-monitor.com