IT chiefs say viruses are still the greatest threat

The Accenture Global Information Survey ranks firms' security concerns

IT security staff say viruses and worms are still their main headache, even though these dangers are less common in the UK than other countries, according to a new report released last week by analyst Accenture.

In Accenture’s annual Global Information Security Survey, 40 percent of UK technology and security professionals said worms and viruses posed the greatest danger. This may be because UK firms are better informed about web-based threats.

"Some of the data seemed to indicate that the UK is a bit more advanced than other geographies," said the head of Accenture's European Security Practice, Floris van den Dool. "The majority of attacks in the UK were discovered by intrusion-detection systems and not by analysing server and firewall log files, indicating a higher level of maturity."

Van den Dool added that UK firms might be relying too heavily on technology to defend themselves. He said that to strengthen protection, additional measures such as risk analysis should also be used.