Australia and Asia Pacific financial services industry organisations are dedicating more time and funding to information security governance, according to Deloitte’s 8th global financial services industry security survey.

  

The survey shows that Australia and APAC continues to lead the world when prioritising governance on IT security.

 

With the exception of Canada and Japan, more than 50% of respondents of the more than 250 financial services organisations from 39 countries that were surveyed, reported an increase in their information security budgets.

 

And although one in three financial institutions in Asia Pacific including Australia endured a privacy related breach in the last year, in the US, 50% of all financial institutions were breached, and in the UK more than two out of three financial services organisations were breached.

 

Deloitte National IT Security Leader Tommy Viljoen said that this year’s security survey study finds that, “FSI organisations are more proactive in implementing innovative security measures, and creating greater awareness of information security within the business than in previous years.”

 

He added that: “Most organisations are challenged with balancing the cost of information security initiatives with the risk of sophisticated threats and emerging technologies."

 

The survey found that 37 per cent of respondents are revising their organisationa pproach to social media, with 33 per cent educating users on social networking to address security risks.

 

The survey revealed that mobile network vulnerabilities are highest in Canada and lowest in APAC and Japan. As a part of the mobility program, many organisations have already deployed, or plan to deploy, mobile VPN, central device management, and mobile device management software.