Infosec 2010: A quarter of all firms have seen data integrity attacks

Data integrity attacks are now a major concern for organisations, as they can be so difficult to detect and to manage.

Over a quarter (28 per cent) of European organisations have been subject to a data integrity attack, according to a survey conducted by Infosecurity Europe.

The figures come from a survey of 420 organisations.

Of those organisations, only six per cent acknowledged that data integrity attacks were a problem and that they are now adequately protected.

The ramifications of a data integrity attack can be significant; if made public the attack could affect their insurance status, credit rating and reputation.

According to Infosecurity, 14 per cent of organisations are not sure they would be able to detect an attack and half think that attacks could be a problem but have not detected any. Three per cent of organisations thought that data integrity attacks were not a problem.

“The lack of confidence around the integrity of critical business data is not surprising, this has long been a problem and, unless action is taken, is likely to get worse as volumes of data continue to grow,” commented Bob Tarzey, analyst for IT research provider Quocirca.

“That 28 per cent of respondents believe they have been subject to a data integrity attack is a surprise. Add to this the fact that most of the others simply do not know whether they have been attacked and it looks like this could be a growing problem.”

Tarzey argues that data integrity attacks have not hit the headlines because there isn’t any pressure to disclose such incidents, as has become the case with the loss of personal data.

Claire Sellick, event director for Infosecurity Europe added: “Organisations need to approach data integrity risks in the same way as they approach data availability and data confidentiality risks.”