According to a survey of business IT managers worldwide, 21 per cent of manufacturers suffered a loss of intellectual property (IP) within the past year, says an IT security product company. Malware was the most common cause of data loss incidents for manufacturers, although other types of cyber-incidents – including software vulnerabilities, theft of mobile devices, network intrusion, etc. – were also cited as sources of IP leakage.
In a highly competitive global economy, businesses rise to leadership or sink into bankruptcy on slim profit margins, says Kaspersky Lab. Most often, a business’s most decisive advantage comes in the form of Research and Development insight or a proprietary high-tech solution which, in the case of manufacturers, can help businesses produce items more efficiently than their competitors. If a competitor is able to obtain this insight, especially without incurring the initial R&D costs, then that competitor now has a significant business advantage.
The manufacturing industry clearly understands the importance of securing their intellectual property. The survey found that manufacturers ranked “Internal Operational Information” and “Intellectual Property” as the two types of non-financial data they fear losing the most. Interestingly, manufacturers ranked the fear of losing “Customer/Client Information” the lowest out of all business segments, most likely because manufacturing facilities are less likely to store this information in the first place.
When asked about the cause of their most serious data loss event within the past 12 months, “Malware” was the most common cause, cited by 23 per cent of manufacturers. Manufacturers also reported other sources of incidents leading to data loss, including “software vulnerabilities” (eight per cent), “network intrusion” (eight per cent), “information leaked on mobile devices” (five per cent), and “targeted attacks” (three per cent).
This data was obtained through a survey, by Kaspersky Lab with B2B International, of nearly 4,000 IT managers across 27 countries. Kaspersky Lab has published summaries of key findings organised by topic, including reports on Data Security Risks, Online Financial Fraud, and Virtualization Security. Visit www.kaspersky.com.
