UK businesses naive about hacking threat

Will Knight ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 04 Jul 2000 11:20 BST

Most small businesses in Britain remain unaware of hackers and Internet fraudsters, says a report commissioned by insurance start-up Clickforcover.com released Monday.

Sixty two percent of senior managers surveyed in this sector said they had not considered obtaining insurance against hacking, Internet fraud or information misuse.

Although hacking, viruses and system failures can cost businesses many thousands of pounds, these same managers said they did not feel the problem warranted more than a few hundred pounds expense.

"The complacency of small to medium sized businesses towards system-related risk gives serious cause for alarm," says managing director of Clickforcover.com, David Walsh. "Businesses need to understand what Web related risks actually are, what steps they need to take to protect their business and why they need to insure themselves adequately."

The same survey found that 41 percent of senior managers surveyed were unaware that their company would be liable for the email content and surfing of employees

"Senior managers have got to wake up to the risks to which their companies are exposed and take appropriate action to minimise the impact," adds Walsh.

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