Many companies worldwide susceptible to fraud

With the number of cyber risks constantly on the rise, business leaders should consider ramping up their fraud prevention measures. However, a recent study by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab revealed that half of companies worldwide are either unaware or unprepared for cyberattacks. "IT security staff are not always sufficiently trained and competent to protect businesses from the most pertinent threats," said Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab. "Cyber criminals can destroy the normal business environment; they could prevent future global development and bring on economic and even political collapse," he added. According to the survey of 3,300 IT professionals, 58 percent of companies lack adequate personnel and software to combat the growing number of cybersecurity risks, and 35 percent of organizations do not have competently trained IT departments. Even more concerning is that 31 percent of respondents said they had not heard of whichever cyber epidemic had recently threatened their companies. More than 60 percent of corporations have been affected by an incident of fraud in the past year, according to a separate report by Kroll Advisory Solutions. Manufacturing and financial firms were found to be the most common targets of fraud.