Talking About Security Bores the Boss, Survey Shows

All Things D: A new survey conducted by vendor Core Security finds that CEOs really aren’t all that worried about securing their networks. Only 15 percent of CEOs surveyed said they are “very concerned” about IT security. A majority, 65 percent, said they don’t really understand IT security well enough to see how it could affect their companies. In addition, 36 percent of CEOs said they “never” receive IT security reports, and only 27 percent said they regularly receive such reports.

The survey also found differences of opinion between CEOs and C-level executives responsible for IT security. For example, while 57 percent of CISOs said their networks could be under attack without their knowledge, only about a quarter of CEOs said the same thing. And while CEOs are most concerned about external attacks, CISOs are more concerned about internal threats. Interestingly, three times as many CEOs as CISOs were concerned about losing their jobs because of a cyberattack.