UK IT professionals have more confidence in the cyber security literacy of their corporate board members than their US counterparts, according to a Tripwire study, which surveyed hundreds of IT professionals at major U.S. and UK companies.
When the IT pros were asked if they consider their corporate board to be cybersecurity literate, 71 percent of UK IT professionals answered yes, compared to only 57 percent of the U.S. respondents who answered in the affirmative.
“From my experience, I believe some of the respondents may be overly optimistic about the cybersecurity literacy of their boards, which could be a challenge,” Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer for Tripwire, said in a Sept. 23 release.
Seventy-one percent of UK respondents also answered yes when asked if one of their company's board members is responsible for cybersecurity compared to only 50 percent of US professionals.
Of those surveyed 32 percent of U.S. professionals answered no when asked if they are confident that cybersecurity briefings presented at their board accurately represent the urgency and intensity of the cyberthreats targeting their organization, compared to only 13 percent of those in the UK.
Melancon said in the release that it's good for the organizations to address the topic, but added that “engaging and doing so effectively are two different things.”
“Fortunately, a good number of organizations recognize that their current approach to depicting cybersecurity status falls short of their goal of creating an appropriate sense of urgency within their executive ranks,” Melancon said.
