Research by security technology company McAfee reveals the extent to which European companies are failing to protect themselves from security vulnerabilities.
The McAfee study, conducted by Ipsos Research, surveyed over 600 senior IT decision-makers at medium to large companies across Europe.
Almost half of those questioned (45%) believe their IT infrastructure is never 100% protected from software and network vulnerabilities.
Over a quarter (27%) of those questioned say it takes 48 hours or more from the time a patch is issued to the IT infrastructure being fully protected from that vulnerability, and 19% say it takes up to a week or more.
Companies did not appear to track the patching issue, with 36% of respondents saying they had no idea how many patches they applied to their business in a six-month period and 58% having no idea how much the deployment of patches is costing their business. This, says McAfee, is despite the IDC`s prediction that the European market for patch management will reach $88 million by 2010.
One in five (20%) IT professionals spend an hour or more a day researching vulnerabilities and patches, but 45% of those questioned do not prioritise which areas of the business are patched first.
McAfee notes that patch management should be a serious concern for large businesses. "In the time that it takes for a patch to be issued and deployed throughout an organisation, that business is vulnerable to security breaches, mass outages, loss of productivity and ultimately the loss of customer confidence," the company says.
The report notes that 54% of respondents said they would invest more resources in this area in future.
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