56% of Asia Pac financial services firms unaware of security threats

And out of those who are mindful of their firms' exposures, 37% could not provide details of the events, said IDC Financial Insights.

"Such blatant lack of security event monitoring only serve to undermine the chances of
discovering and reacting promptly to information security (IS) attacks”, says Li-May Chew,
Associate Research Director, IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific Financial Advisory Service.

The survey also revealed that punitive measures by regulatory authorities exert the most pressure on bankers, insurers, and financial market firms to invest in IS to ensure compliance with mandates. Unfortunately, hindrances exist in preventing the implementation of sufficient IS, with the core reason being a lack of investment budget (identified by 28.5% of respondents), increased sophistication of threats (22.0%), and a lack of senior management support (13.0%).

While capital remains precious, financial institutions are cognizant of the need to establish a fine balance between driving business strategies and enhancing IS controls, with 63% of respondents anticipating rising technology budgets for IS.