FICO Survey: 9 out of 10 Swedish companies think they have better cybersecurity than average

Stockholm - July 11, 2018

Highlights:

• 93 percent of Swedish firms in new survey claim to have better cybersecurity than their competitors
• 7 out of 10 Swedish companies believe cyber threats and breaches will increase in the coming year.
• 57 percent state that cyberattacks have increased in the last year

Despite the growth in data breaches, senior executives at most Swedish firms think their cybersecurity protection is better than their competitors', according to a new survey conducted by research and consultancy firm Ovum for Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO. A full 93 percent of the executives state that their companies are better prepared than their competitors.

More information: http://www.fico.com/en/latest-thinking/ebook/the-nordics-views-from-the-c-suite-survey-2018

Despite this confidence, only 32 percent of the companies have a tested response plan to handle breaches, and only one in four companies have a board member responsible for overseeing cybersecurity. Also, more than 4 out 10 companies, 43 percent, do not currently have an insurance against cyber threats.

'The grave risk posed to our privacy and security demands that firms take an honest view of their protection,' said Dylan Jones, who oversees FICO's operations in the Nordics. 'Just as 4 out of 5 Swedish drivers claim to drive better than average, these numbers suggest that many firms just don't understand how they compare to their competitors, and that could lead to a lack of investment.'

'IT leaders have greater funding than ever to protect organizations from the continuously evolving threat landscape and meet complex compliance demands,' said Maxine Holt, research director at Ovum. 'These same IT leaders are undoubtedly keen to believe that the money being spent provides their organization with a better security posture than any other - but the rapid pace of investment, often in point solutions, rarely takes an organization-wide view of security.'

Another surprising find from the survey is that almost half of the respondents, 49 percent see IT personnel, from systems administrators to senior IT managers, as posing the biggest threat to the organization's cybersecurity, compared to normal business users in the organization, who just 19 percent see as the biggest threat.

Ovum conducted the survey for FICO through telephone interviews with 500 senior executives, mostly from the IT function, in businesses from the UK, the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, India, Finland, Norway, Sweden and South Africa.

Last month, FICO announced that it is offering free subscriptions to the Portrait portal of the FICO^® Enterprise Risk Suite, which gives businesses access to their FICO^® Enterprise Security Score. The score, a machine learning-based cybersecurity rating service, can show organizations how business partners and cyber insurance underwriters see their network security, and can help them benchmark their performance. More information is at http://securityscore.fico.com.

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 185 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at http://www.fico.com

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

About Ovum

Ovum is a market-leading research and consulting firm focused on helping digital service providers and their vendor partners thrive in the connected digital economy. Through its 150 analysts worldwide, it offers expert analysis and strategic insight across the IT, telecoms, and media industries. Founded in 1985, Ovum has one of the most experienced analyst teams in the industry and is a respected source of guidance for technology business leaders, CIOs, vendors, service providers, and regulators looking for comprehensive, accurate, and insightful market data, research, and consulting. With 23 offices across six continents, Ovum offers a truly global perspective on technology and media markets and provides thousands of clients with insight including workflow tools, forecasts, surveys, market assessments, technology audits, and opinion.

Ovum is part of the Business Intelligence Division of Informa plc, a leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events group listed on the London Stock Exchange. https://ovum.informa.com/

Media Contact:
Richard Yams for FICO
Burson Marsteller
+46 (0) 70 666 65 38
fico@bm.com