Almost 70 percent of company CEOs will not share their company’s cyber security secrets and measures with outsiders, a recent IBM study reports. The same study, somewhat ironically, also reports that of those same CEOs, 55 percent believe that collaboration between businesses is necessary to fight cyber- crime. The study, spanning across 28 countries, acknowledged that the lack of sharing security measures with international companies may have played a role in the disparity between the two percentages.
The primary issue facing businesses is that sharing cyber security measures may compromise their positions and as a result, most CEOs would rather withhold the information and solve the problem from within than take the risk that could possibly come from sharing information with an outsider. Complicating the issue, hackers have no problem with sharing secrets and technology updates because they risk losing nothing and advancing the practice can only have positive returns. The updates come in essentially real time as well, as cyber offenders can share information online and provide feedback instantaneously. Though the issue is complex, company CEOs would be well-served to share information security measures with other trusted outside members in order help better repair flawed approaches and improve current ones.