November 8, 2006—Companies most attuned to security issues are those with the most exposure to a range of security risks, according to a survey by The Conference Board, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Conference Board report, “Navigating Risk: The Business Case for Security,” is based on a survey of 213 senior corporate executives not specifically responsible for security or risk matters and not chief information officers. The survey was designed to gauge the role and influence of security managers among general senior executives.
The surveyed companies most concerned with security are companies in critical infrastructure industries (including energy and utilities, chemicals, and transportation), large corporations, multinationals with global operations and publicly-traded companies.
Not considering security directors themselves, the executives most supportive of security matters are those in risk-oriented positions, such as CIOs, risk managers and compliance officers.
But there is a strong disconnect between the level of support for security initiatives and the level of influence over security policy within the companies surveyed. In general, the most supportive executives were not the most influential, and the most influential executives (senior C-suite managers) were not the most supportive.
In addition, most senior executives surveyed reported that they have little direct responsibility for most aspects of security. Security is an area with a lot of dotted-line relationships, so senior executives are often heavily involved in specific security decisions even though they are not directly accountable for them.
For more information, see the Web site of the Conference Board.
