Nearly half of the nation's fastest-growing companies suffered a recent breach in information security, according to a survey released Monday by consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The poll of CEOs from over 400 firms -- companies with revenues ranging from $5 million to $150 million which Pricewaterhouse dubs 'trendsetters' and tracks on an ongoing basis -- uncovered a disturbing trend: smaller organizations haven't responded to such breaches, and the ensuing losses, by beefing up their security budgets.
"Earlier this year, we saw the security budgets in large organization increasing," said Mark Lobel, the senior manager for security and privacy services at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the author of the survey results. "But we're seeing these fast-growing companies not spending as consistently as their more mature brethren.
"They do that at their peril," he added.
According to the survey, 46 percent of the fast-growing companies polled said they had been the victim of a recent security breach. The vast majority -- 90 percent -- of those breaches were caused by computer viruses or worms, with some companies under attack from multiple vectors, including unauthorized network access (17 percent), denial-of-service (DoS) attacks (13 percent), and wireless intrusion (2 percent).
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