Many consumer business organisations are not focusing on the right areas to best respond to threats, according to the inaugural Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu 2009 global Consumer Business security study entitled "Security can't be discounted". Infrastructure, security governance, insider threats, and budgets are among the areas that need to be re-examined in light of the current information security threat environment, the study reveals.

The DTT Consumer Business study is based on discussions with information technology executives and information officers of global consumer business organizations, and includes perspectives and commentary from Deloitte member firm subject matter experts.

"Consumer business organisations are the 'front lines' when it comes to customer information because of the amount of personal and financial data with which they are entrusted," says Adel Melek, DTT Global Security, Privacy & Resiliency Leader. "Our study found that the industry needs to re-focus its information security efforts to best respond to increasingly sophisticated and innovative threats."

The DTT study reveals that, in many areas, consumer business organisations are simply not focusing on the right areas to best respond to the threats that face them:

• Many organisations still consider information security primarily a technology infrastructure issue. Fifty one per cent of respondents identify their top security initiative for 2009 as security infrastructure improvement.

• Respondents are placing a less prominent focus on security governance - 53 per cent of organisations are operating without an approved security governance structure, despite the fact that security governance helps to ensure that proper security controls are in place.

• Managing insider threats receives a low ranking among top security initiatives for 2009 - only 10 per cent of organisations interviewed identify it as their top priority, despite respondents acknowledging that people, including third parties, are their organisations' weakest link.

Steve K. Cachia, Enterprise Risk Services Partner, Deloitte Malta, said: "This study demonstrates that consumer business companies may be exposing themselves to security risks by not focusing on the right areas to prevent information security threats. I join our Security & Privacy Global Parnter, Adel Melek, in hoping that the Maltese consumer business industry may be able to translate the study's findings into workable solutions for their companies."