Eighty-Six Percent of IT Pros Believe Social Media Sites Pose a Threat to Security, According to New InformationWeek Reports Research

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- InformationWeek Reports (http://reports.informationweek.com), a service provider for peer-based IT research and analysis, released 2012 Strategic Security Survey: Pick the Right Battles, a new report featuring results from InformationWeek's recent poll on IT security trends and strategies. The report informs IT professionals on areas critical to information risk management and provides strategies for handling security challenges. More than 900 business technology professionals at organizations with 100 or more employees responded to the survey.

Research summary: Fully half of the 946 respondents to InformationWeek's 2012 Strategic Security Survey cited identity and password management as the most valuable security practice, a significant finding because access control is the most important security process in every organization, yet very few security teams spend enough time on it.

Findings: 

• 52% of respondents report that managing the complexity of security is their biggest challenge, followed by enforcing security policies (39%) and preventing data breaches from outside attackers (34%).
• 25% say smartphones and tablets represent a significant threat to security, with loss or theft their greatest concern when it comes to mobile devices.
• 29% conduct their own risk assessments of cloud providers, up from 18% in 2011.
• Just 33% invest in a secure software development life cycle; of those using SDLC, 33% find it very effective.

The report author, Michael A. Davis, is the CEO of Savid Technologies, a technology and security consulting firm based in Chicago, and an InformationWeek Reports contributor.

For full access to the research data, members can download now: http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/21/8815/Security/research-2012-strategic-security-survey.html?cid=rpt_press_rls

"When it comes to security and risk management, it's tempting to try to address everything, but a more effective approach is to focus on the most likely threats," says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Reports. "Implementing better access control, vetting cloud providers, safeguarding mobile devices, educating users and building more secure software should be on every company's security to-do list."

For more information:
Art Wittmann
VP & Managing Director, InformationWeek Reports
415-947-6361
[email protected]

About InformationWeek Business Technology Network (http://www.informationweek.com)

The InformationWeek Business Technology Network provides IT executives with unique analysis and tools that parallel their work flow—from defining and framing objectives through to the evaluation and recommendation of solutions. Anchored by InformationWeek, the multimedia powerhouse that looks across the enterprise, the network scales across the most critical technology categories with online properties such as DarkReading.com (security), NetworkComputing.com (networking and communications) and BYTE (consumer technology). The network also provides focused content for key IT targets, such as CIOs, developers and SMBs, via InformationWeek Global CIO, Dr. Dobb's and InformationWeek SMB, as well as vital vertical industries with InformationWeek Financial Services, Government and Healthcare sites. Content is at the nucleus of our information distribution strategy—IT professionals turn to our experts and communities to stay informed, get advice and research technologies to make strategic business decisions.

About UBM TechWeb (http://www.ubmtechweb.com)

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its three core businesses—media solutions, marketing services and paid content—UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands and media applications in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs and IT managers, Web and digital professionals, software developers, government decision-makers and telecom providers) actively engage in UBM TechWeb's communities and information resources monthly. UBM TechWeb brands include global face-to-face events such as Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and Enterprise Connect; award-winning online resources such as InformationWeek.com, Light Reading and Network Computing; and market-leading magazines InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology and Advanced Trading. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM plc, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

SOURCE UBM TechWeb

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