FICO Survey: Swedish Firms May Be Overconfident About Cybersecurity Protection

Stockholm — June 20, 2017

Highlights:

• 58 percent of Swedish firms surveyed said they are better prepared for data breaches than their competitors.
• Telecommunications respondents were least realistic, with 88 percent rating their firms above average.
• Ovum conducted telephone surveys for FICO of security executives at 350 companies in Sweden and other countries.

Senior executives at Swedish firms may be overconfident about their cybersecurity protection, according to a new survey conducted by research and consultancy firm Ovum for Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO. 58 percent of executives from Swedish firms said they were better prepared than their competitors, and more than a third of these executives said their firm was a top performer. Swedish respondents were more likely to rate their firms as above average than respondents from the other countries surveyed.

More information: http://subscribe.fico.com/cybersecurity-views-from-the-c-suite

Telecommunications providers were the most confident of all. A full 75 percent of respondents said they were better prepared than their competitors, and 13 percent called their firm a top performer. Financial services institutions were slightly more realistic, with 33 percent of respondents believing their firm is above average, and 20 percent saying it is a top performer.

In addition, only 26% of Swedish respondents said their firms use an outside source to benchmark their security and one out of ten said they don’t carry out measurable assessment of their security status at all.

“A lack of objective measurement may be giving firms an optimistic view of their cybersecurity situation,” said Dylan Jones, Country Manager for Nordics and Baltics at FICO. “For example, we also found that only58 percent of Swedish companies have a board-level strategy or mechanism in place for highlighting the organization’s security status, compared to 78 percent in Finland. Confidence is fine, but it should be based on an objective measurement of a firm’s standing.”

Ovum conducted the survey for FICO through telephone interviews with 350 CXOs and senior security officers in the US, Canada, the UK and the Nordics in March and April 2017. Respondents represented firms in financial services, telecommunications, retail, ecommerce and media service providers. FICO’s solutions for cybersecurity include the FICO^® Enterprise Security Score, which firms use to benchmark their own cybersecurity posture as well as that of vendors and partners.                       

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 170 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at http://www.fico.com

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

About Ovum
Ovum is a market-leading research and consulting firm focused on helping digital service providers and their vendor partners thrive in the connected digital economy. Through its 150 analysts worldwide, it offers expert analysis and strategic insight across the IT, telecoms, and media industries. Founded in 1985, Ovum has one of the most experienced analyst teams in the industry and is a respected source of guidance for technology business leaders, CIOs, vendors, service providers, and regulators looking for comprehensive, accurate, and insightful market data, research, and consulting. With 23 offices across six continents, Ovum offers a truly global perspective on technology and media markets and provides thousands of clients with insight including workflow tools, forecasts, surveys, market assessments, technology audits, and opinion.

Ovum is part of the Business Intelligence Division of Informa plc, a leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events group listed on the London Stock Exchange. https://ovum.informa.com/

Media Contact:
Magnus Aren for FICO
Burson-Marsteller
+46 (0)70 826 79 04
fico@bm.com