Security at majority of large firms breached this year, finds survey

Hacking - or maybe honesty in reporting it - is on the increase

Two-thirds of organisations with over 5,000 employees have seen their corporate network hit by hackers this year, according to a recent survey.

Last year less than half said their networks had been penetrated.

According to the sixth Annual Enterprise IT Security Survey conducted by Amplitude Research on behalf of VanDyke Software, 67 per cent of large organisations admitted to a security breach, up from 41 per cent in last year’s survey.

The largest proportion of security breaches – 14 per cent – was blamed on direct hacks. Malware, which is often the main focus of security measures, was blamed for nine per cent of breaches.

However, 20 per cent of respondents who had suffered a breach said the incident had had a positive affect on tightening security at their firm.

The increase in security breaches among mid-sized organisations – those with 1,000 to 4,999 employees – was much smaller: 59 per cent this year, up from 57 per cent last year.