Survey shows security improvements in private sector

Computerworld - A new survey of 100 CEOs from leading U.S. companies shows that a vast majority has not only boosted security spending since 9/11 but also put in place crisis communications and updated emergency response plans.
The survey, released this week by the Washington-based Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs from companies in the U.S. with a combined workforce of more than 10 million and $3.7 trillion in annual revenues, found that nearly all of the CEOs said their companies have significantly strengthened both physical and cybersecurity since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In addition to increasing cybersecurity spending on average by 10%, nearly all of the CEOs said security spending would remain steady or rise slightly during 2004.
Likewise, 99 out of the 100 CEOs surveyed said their companies have crisis communications programs for employees. As many as 88 said they have similar plans for customers, and 78 said a crisis communications plan had been put in place for suppliers.
The vast majority of the CEOs, 97%, also said their companies have emergency response plans that have been updated in the two years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And perhaps more telling is the finding that nearly 90% of the companies test their emergency plans each year, and 40% test their plans at least twice annually, according to the survey.
"Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, security has become embedded into core business operations and daily activities of our companies," said C. Michael Armstrong, chairman of both Comcast Corp. and the Roundtable's Security Task Force. "Companies are strengthening the resiliency of the nation's critical infrastructures, increasing investments in physical and cybersecurity, improving crisis communications and developing more extensive emergency response plans," he said in a statement.
"In addition, CEOs are personally engaged in security, and more than half of the companies have made security a board-level issue."

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