Survey: 67% Of Industrial Sector Say Security Communications Occur At Too Low A Level

PRESS RELEASE

HOUSTON, TEXAS-- November 12, 2013 -- Tripwire, Inc., a leading global provider of risk-based security and compliance management solutions, today announced the results of research comparing risk-based security management in the industrial sector to that of other industries. The survey data is being shared at the eighth annual American Petroleum Institute Cybersecurity Conference.

The survey, conducted in April 2013 with the Ponemon Institute®, evaluates the attitudes of 1,320 respondents from IT security, IT operations, IT risk management, business operations, compliance/internal audit and enterprise risk management. One hundred eight industrial sector respondents from the U.S. and U.K. participated in the industrial controls portion of the survey

"With the rapid escalation of critical infrastructure cybersecurity threats, industrial control organizations have a lot to do," said Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer for Tripwire. "It is encouraging that they are embracing a risk-based view of their operations at a higher than average rate, but this is not enough to protect them against determined attackers. It is imperative for this sector to get a handle on system hardening and configuration management practices to improve security and reliability."

Key findings included:

51% use formal risk assessments to identify security risks – five percent higher than the survey average.

86% believe minimizing noncompliance with laws and regulations helps meet certain business objectives – five percent higher than the survey average.

43% measure the reduction in unplanned system downtime to assess the effectiveness of cost-containment management efforts, differing from survey average of 38%.

52% listed the "flow of upstream communications" as one of the top three features most critical to the success of a risk-based security management approach – an eight percent increase over the survey average of 46%.

However, the study revealed that the industrial sector is less effective than other industries in deploying risk management controls and communicating effectively about security. Additional findings included:

Only 40% have fully or partially deployed security configuration management, differing from the survey average of 49%.

75% have fully or partially deployed system hardening, five percent lower than the survey average of 80%.

69% said security communications are contained in only one department or line of business, differing from the survey average of 63%.

67% said security communications occur at too low a level, differing from the survey average of 62%.

Only 56% listed an "openness to challenge assumptions" as one of the top three features most critical to the success of a risk-based security management approach. This was six percent lower than the survey average of 62%.

"Even though industrial sector organizations are actively considering security risks, they must also improve their willingness to elevate key risks to the executive level," Melancon continued. "Security risks must be considered in context with overall business risk or the entire organization's success will be in jeopardy."

For more information about this survey, please visit: http://www.tripwire.com/ponemon/2013/#industrial .

About the Ponemon Institute

The Ponemon Institute is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors, and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a variety of industries.

About Tripwire

Tripwire is a leading global provider of risk-based security and compliance management solutions, enabling enterprises, government agencies and service providers to effectively connect security to their business. Tripwire provides the broadest set of foundational security controls including security configuration management, vulnerability management, file integrity monitoring, log and event management. Tripwire solutions deliver unprecedented visibility, business context and security business intelligence allowing extended enterprises to protect sensitive data from breaches, vulnerabilities, and threats. Learn more at www.tripwire.com, get security news, trends and insights at http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/ or follow us on Twitter @TripwireInc.