Two-thirds of UK firms suffered security breach in last year

Written by James Gardiner

Almost two-thirds of businesses in the UK and the US have experienced a security breach in the past year due to exploitation of vulnerabilities in their critical software applications, according to the latest research.

A survey by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Veracode found that many companies do not have confidence in the protection covering their applications.

The research also shows that only 34 per cent of firms have a comprehensive software development life cycle process which integrates application security.

Although more than half of companies use IT outsourcing regularly for business critical information, only a third require rigorous security testing before accepting and implementing code from third-party providers, the report shows.

Furthermore, 60 per cent of respondents said they are actively incorporating third-party security assessments as part of software procurement processes.

Meanwhile, Neil Fisher, vice president of global security solutions at Unisys, recently said that cybercriminals are raising their game and exposing weaknesses in the supply chain.