Mary-Louise Hoffman
A Raytheon-commissioned report indicates a divide between corporate executives and information technology leaders in organizations that it said could impede internal efforts to defend against cyber attacks.
Raytheon collaborated with Ponemon Institute to gather cybersecurity insights from 1,006 chief information officers and chief information security officers for the “Global Megatrends in Cybersecurity 2015” report, Raytheon said Thursday.
The Ponemon Institute surveyed participants from the U.S., North Africa, Europe and the Middle East in December 2014.
Sixty-six percent of the IT leaders polled believe their companies’ senior management team does not consider cybersecurity a strategic priority and 78 percent said boards of directors are unaware of their firms’ latest strategies against hacking.
“From the boardroom to the president’s desk, rallying around the cybersecurity issue is critical to address the real threats we face as a global society,” said Jack Harrington, vice president for cybersecurity and special missions at Raytheon’s intelligence, information and services business.
The study also found only 47 percent of companies have enough resources to fulfill their IT assets protection goals and approximately one-third have tools in place to manage threats associated with  Internet of Things technology.
CISOs who participated in Raytheon’s survey forecast that data analytics, modern firewalls and computer forensics technology will be key in cyber defense efforts over the next three years.
