FICO Survey: US Firms Are Too Confident About Their Cybersecurity

SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 16, 2018

Highlights:

• 68 percent of US firms surveyed said they are better prepared for data breaches than their competitors — up from 60 percent last year
• Of the eight regions surveyed, Canadians were more likely to rate their firm a top performer for cybersecurity
• Power and utilities providers respondents in the US were the most confident, or least realistic, with 86 percent rating their firms above average or top performers  
• Financial services respondents were the least confident, or most realistic, with 60 percent rating their firms above average or top performers
• Ovum conducted telephone surveys for FICO of security executives at 500 companies in the US and 10 other countries.
• FICO will host a Tweet Chat on this survey, July 19th at 11.00 am Eastern Time, 8:00 am Pacific Time, 4:00 pm UK Time. Use #cybertrends to follow the discussion.

Despite the growth in data breaches, senior executives at US firms think their cybersecurity protection is top-notch, according to a new survey conducted by research and consultancy firm Ovum for Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO.  68 percent of executives from US firms said their firm was better prepared than their competitors, and 37 percent said their firm was a top performer.

More information: http://www.fico.com/en/latest-thinking/ebook/usa-views-from-the-c-suite-survey-2018

FICO will host a Tweet Chat on this survey, July 19th at 11.00 am Eastern Time, 8:00 am Pacific Time, 4:00 pm UK Time. Use #cybertrends to follow the discussion.

Among U.S. industries, power and utilities providers were the most confident of all — 86 percent said their firm was a top performer or better than average. Telecommunications providers were second, with 72 percent saying their firm was top or better than average for cyber-readiness. The least confident — or most realistic — respondents were in financial services, where 60 percent reported their firm being a top industry performer or better than average.

Despite this, only 44 percent of telecommunications providers believe their firm’s cybersecurity position will improve in a year’s time. In fact, the same percentage of respondents believes their firm’s position will remain the same, showing a lack of confidence in their firm keeping up with the latest cybersecurity threats.

“Firms have a lot to lose when it comes to their privacy and security risk and must have an accurate picture of how protected they really are,” said Doug Clare, vice president for cybersecurity solutions at FICO. “These figures point to the fact that many firms don’t know how they compare against to their competitors, which could lead to an under-investment in cybersecurity protection. Based on the survey results, many organizations would be surprised by what an objective view from the FICO Enterprise Security Score could tell them about their relative levels of cyber risk.”

“IT leaders have greater funding than ever to protect organizations from the continuously evolving threat landscape and meet complex compliance demands,” said Maxine Holt, research director at Ovum. “These same IT leaders are undoubtedly keen to believe that the money being spent provides their organization with a better security posture than any other – but the rapid pace of investment, often in point solutions, rarely takes an organization-wide view of security.”

Ovum conducted the survey for FICO through telephone interviews with 500 senior executives, mostly from the IT function, in businesses from the US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, India, Finland, Norway, Sweden and South Africa. Respondents represented firms in financial services, telecommunications, retail and ecommerce, and power and utilities.

Last month, FICO announced that it is offering free subscriptions to the Portrait portal of the FICO^® Enterprise Risk Suite, which gives businesses access to their FICO^® Enterprise Security Score. The score, a machine learning-based cybersecurity rating service, can show organizations how business partners and cyber insurance underwriters see their network security, and can help them benchmark their performance. More information is at http://securityscore.fico.com.

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 185 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:
Greg Jawski for FICO
Email: greg.jawski@porternovelli.com
Phone: +1 212-601-8248