Three-quarters of UK firms in survey by FICO and Ovum say their protection is above average, and nearly half think they're a "top performer"

LONDON — July 11, 2018

Highlights:

• 75 percent of UK firms surveyed said they are better prepared for data breaches than their competitors — up from 60 percent last year

• Of eight regions surveyed, only Canadians were more likely to rate their firm a top performer for cybersecurity

• Financial services respondents were least realistic, with 96 percent rating their firms above average or top performers

• Retail and e-commerce respondents were most realistic, with 57 percent rating their firms above average or top performers

• Ovum conducted telephone surveys for FICO of security executives at 500 companies in the UK and 10 other countries.

Despite the growth in data breaches, senior executives at UK 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. Three out of four executives from UK firms said their firm was better prepared than their competitors, and 43 percent said their firm was a top performer. While this overconfidence was seen across the eight regions surveyed, Canada was the only country where more respondents (44 percent) said they were a top performer for cybersecurity protection.

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

Among British industries, financial services firms were the most confident of all —55 percent said their firm was a top performer, and 41 percent said their firm was above average. Telecommunications providers were second, with 42 percent calling their firm a top performer. The least confident — or most realistic — respondents were in retail and ecommerce, where 38 percent said their firm is a top performer, and just 19 percent said they were above average.

Despite this confidence, only 36 percent of organizations are carrying out more than a point-in-time assessment of what their cybersecurity risk is.

"The grave risk posed to our privacy and security demands that firms take an honest view of their protection," said Steve Hadaway, FICO general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "These numbers suggest that many firms just don't understand how they compare to their competitors, and that could lead to a lack of investment. When we review firms' cybersecurity risk with our FICO Enterprise Security Score, I can tell you that most firms are not above average."

"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 UK, the US, 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/

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