More than one fourth – 27% – of financial services organizations in a CDW Corp. straw poll experienced a data loss in the past two years, the information technology products company said.

And 60% of the 150 respondents said data loss – including accidental or negligent loss, internal threats, bot data harvesting and malicious attacks from targeted intrusion – pose the greatest business threat over the next year, the Vernon Hills, Ill., company said.

Only 12% of the group picked social engineering, such as phishing or spear phishing via social networks, as the primary threat.

The 150 respondents were people familiar with their organizations' IT data security strategies and systems, CDW said, and were part of a group of 650 customers surveyed overall.

As for targets, 68% of the financial services respondents said personally identifiable information or credit card information was the most likely target of cyber attacks, while 19% cited the organization's financial data. Only 1% chose the organization's social network accounts. The rest cited competitive and proprietary information and specifications, CDW said.

The survey also found a sharp increase in the number of people with access to internal networks, with 38% of the respondents saying it's happened with them in the past two years through both employer- and employee-owned devices.

CDW said 36% of the respondents said policies for employee-owned devices are stricter while the same percentage said they were less strict. Twenty-eight percent said their financial services organization had no policies for employee-owned devices that had access to their systems.

Instant Insights /

Data Loss Hits 27% of Financial Services Organizations: CDW Straw Poll

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