Complex IT infrastructure biggest factor in increasing fraud exposure

More than 900 senior executives at companies based across the globe were asked for their views on fraud and its effects on business during 2012/13. According to risk management service provider Kroll which commissioned the research, 81% of the executives believe that their business is more exposed to fraud than it was a year ago.

In its Global Fraud Report 2013/14 (48-page / 5.83MB PDF), Kroll said that "complex IT structures are the most commonly cited reason for an increase in overall fraud exposure", with 37% of respondents naming that as a factor for the increase. A high turnover of staff, and entry to "new, riskier markets" were also reasons for the increase cited by respondents.

A greater proportion of businesses (35%) were able to identify external hackers as being behind the theft of their information compared to last year (18%), according to the report, with approximately a sixth of the victims in those cases suffering the theft as a result of a hacking attack on a vendor or supplier.

A quarter of European businesses experienced an incident where there information was stolen last year, according to Kroll's report.

"The assumption is often made that there is nothing of value that cyber criminals could want, therefore it is not a concern," Kroll said. "But the truth is that cyber criminals do not discriminate; they want a lot of data, some of which may seem irrelevant to others. A personal credit card number is just a small piece."

"Businesses need to understand what data they hold, why it is important or attractive to cyber criminals, how it is protected, and who has access to it. A proactive understanding of the threats leads to proactive mitigation," it said.