Survey: CEOs See Security as Top Priority

eSecurity Planet reports that, according to an IBM-sponsored study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, 76 percent of the 115 C-level execs surveyed said that they now see reducing potential security flaws in business-critical applications as the most important part of their IT security plan.

All the respondents said that their companies dealt with data attacks at least once in the past year and 77 percent said they had suffered a data breach at some point. Eighty-one percent of executives said they believe the risk of data loss or theft can be greatly reduced by investing in a security strategy.

Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute, says:

In the face of growing security threats, business leaders are finally recognizing that a strong data protection strategy plays a critical role to their bottom line. Once viewed as purely a technical issue, the responses garnered in our survey highlight a shift in how organizations are treating their investments in security software.