Firms not recognising IT security risks, says expert

Written by Louise Tate

Companies are likely to suffer security problems if their IT departments are overworked, an expert has claimed, which could show the importance of IT outsourcing.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, claimed that the problems of corporate PCs not using adequate IT security applications are well understood by technology departments.

However, he added that this awareness does not extend into general management, which may be tempted to cut the resources and funding available to IT teams.

Mr Cluley explained: "The problem, generally, is that the IT teams are overstretched, overworked, underpaid, and so they don't necessarily have the right resources to control this."

In a recent blog post on Sophos' website, the expert revealed that a significant percentage of companies are failing to use their antivirus software and firewalls correctly.

Research from the group found firewalls were not enabled in 46 per cent of corporate computers, while three per cent did not have the application installed.

In addition, 16 per cent of antivirus protection was discovered to be out-of-date or inactive.