Electronic Theft Costs Businesses More Than Physical Theft

Strategic Security Survey: Global Threat, Local Pain

Companies in North American face relatively low levels of fraud, except in one area: information theft or attack. Indeed, related fraud over the past year rose from 22% to 32%, compared to a global average of 27% reporting that they'd suffered information theft.

Those findings come from a new global fraud report commissioned by Kroll and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. More than 800 senior executives worldwide were polled.

The survey also found that the top techniques used for information theft against U.S. companies were phishing (26%) and technology or tools (19%). In addition, said Kroll, "26% of those surveyed cited the complexity of IT infrastructure as the leading cause of increased fraud exposure."

According to Kroll, 2010 marked the first time the annual survey -- now in its fourth year -- found more companies had suffered information theft than theft of physical property. Of the 10 industries surveyed, Kroll said that the companies most at risk from information theft or attacks operated in the financial services, professional services or natural resources sectors.

Unfortunately, executives and corporate boards in numerous industries don't appear to be taking appropriate measures. In a year in which even Google has been hacked, only one-third of respondents to the Kroll survey thought their organization was moderately or highly vulnerable to information theft. Notably, overall investment in information security by businesses declined from 2009 to 2010.

In addition, companies also think they're relatively immune to fraud, and report low levels of exposure to corruption (7%) and market collusion (4%). Yet, only 42% of U.S. survey respondents correctly identified the fact that the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) applies to their company, while 44% didn't know, and 14% believed they were exempt.

Kroll said that businesses must take a more proactive security and anti-fraud stance to help offset the overall rise in fraud, including information theft. "North American companies currently enjoy a relatively benign fraud environment. They will need to address growing risks, especially in information security, to keep things that way."