Indian cos spending more than Rs 25 crore on information security

New Delhi: Indian companies are spending more than Rs 25 crore on information security as they are reporting an increase in security incidents.

This marks a 100 per cent increase in companies spending above this amount, compared to 2012, according to PwC’s The State of Information Security Survey – India 2014.

The survey covered 624 CXOs and senior management from across 17 industry sectors in India.

There has been a 98 per cent increase in number of security incidents in the same period. Around 89 per cent of the respondents are confident of the effectiveness of their security systems while 57 per cent feel that they are “front runners” in strategy and security systems.

However, an evaluation by PwC based on key criteria such as effectiveness of strategy, evaluation of security events etc revealed that only 38 per cent of respondents can be considered as having an advanced security system in place.

The survey reveals that organisations in India are faring equally or better than global peers on most counts. However, there is a lack of agility and undue focus on the traditional information security safeguards. Over 90 per cent respondents claim that their security policies and spending are aligned with business objectives, but there has also been a sharp increase in the number of security incidents and resultant financial losses. This suggests that old security models in use may be broken or ineffective.