THORNHILL, ON – Security that can guard against hackers and viruses is the single most important attribute of a computer network say most Canadian executives, according to the results of a global survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for AT&T.
The research shows that 60% of Canadian executives and 52% of executives globally believe that having a converged network gives their companies better protection against IT security breaches.
However, the cost of new equipment and implementation are major barriers to IP convergence for Canadian companies, according to the poll.
The survey by the EIU, the business information arm of The Economist Group which publishes The Economist, also shows that just 30% of Canadian executives feel “extremely” vulnerable about the growing volume of customer data they hold and manipulate compared with 45% globally.
In contrast, 67% of Canadian executives cite hackers as the worst security threat, compared to the global average of 49%. Survey results also show that identity theft was mentioned by 40% of Canadian executives, which is slightly above the 32% global average.
The results were derived from an online worldwide survey of 395 senior executives from 51 countries and 20 industries. The majority of respondents came from Western Europe (32%), Asia Pacific (30%), and North America (30%). Some 63% of those polled hailed from large firms with annual revenue of more than US$500 million.
“Security is becoming more and more important in today’s collaborative environment,” said AT&T Global Services Canada President and GM David Denault. “We are constantly talking to our customers in Canada and helping them to re-evaluate their requirements to ensure that their businesses are adequately protected at all times.”
Free copies of the EIU research paper entitled Network Security: Protecting Productivity can be downloaded from the AT&T Web site at: http://www.corp.att.com/emea/insights/whitepaper/network_security4.html.
