InfoSecurity tops list of executive worries

Jan 2, 2007 3:50 PM

The compromise of corporate information systems is the number-one worry of business executives, according to a survey of 197 senior executives at corporations with $1 billion or more in annual revenue.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, revealed that 61 percent of the executives cited data breaches as their biggest worry. Terrorism (55 percent) and corporate malfeasance (40 percent) round out the top-three potential crisis situations.

"No business can survive without customer trust," said Harris Interactive's Mike Dabadie, president of the company's Brand and Strategic Consulting practice. "In today's computerized economy, customers trust companies with a lot of sensitive personal and financial information. Any breach of data security that would compromise that trust can have a devastating impact on the company's reputation."

Other findings reveal that workplace violence was cited by 21 percent as a major worry; industral accidents were cited by 28 percent.

Fittingly, 74 percent of the respondents say that their company has crisis management plans in place to deal with these situations. Of those companies with crisis management plans, 40 percent have, at least once, used a component of the plan.