Are Overseas Companies More Secure than US Companies?

Two major researchers have recently released two studies that offer different takes on the state of security for companies in major outsourcing destinations and other parts of the world.

In an article on the ComputerWorld website, Jaikumar Vijayan says one survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) “found that countries such as India, China and Brazil have security controls and practices that are as good, if not even better than, those used by companies in the US.”

However, the other survey by Cisco Systems Inc., shows that cultural differences and employee attitudes toward information security can sometimes pose big risks to corporate data overseas.

The PwC survey found that 72 percent of companies in India have an enterprise-wide security strategy, versus 65 percent in the US. Similarly, approximately 77 percent of Indian companies employ either a chief security officer (CSO) or a chief information security officer (CISO) compared with 52 percent of US companies.

Cisco’s report, on the other hand, shows some concerns. Vijayan says the company released the second part of a report based on a survey done earlier this year of data leak-prevention practices in 10 countries, including India and China.

For instance, about 11 percent of end users in India almost never or only rarely adhere to corporate security policies, compared with about four percent in the US. Similarly, 77 percent of Chinese respondents said that their employees violated security policies because security is just not a major issue for them, as opposed to 34 percent in the US who felt the same way.