IT security top priority for 6% of financial services companies as South Korean regulator sets new cyber security requirements

According to the survey, undertaken by technology and outsourcing provider Capgemini at a financial services industry conference in Australia, IT security is "not on the agenda" of 36% of financial services businesses, according a ZDNet report.

IT security is a top-three priority for 18% of companies in the sector and a top-ten priority for a further 18% of financial services business, according to the ZDNet report.

The results of the survey come as the financial services regulator in South Korea announced plans to require banks in the country to separate the IT network systems they use internally from the one they use for online use, according to a news agency in the country.

Yonhap reported that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is looking to introduce the measures following a spate of cyber attacks on a number of South Korean bank websites. It will cost between one and four billion South Korean Won (£588,000 – £2,352,000) for banks to separate their network systems, the FSC has estimated, with only state-run bank the Industrial Bank of Korea having entirely separate systems, the report said.

The FSC is also looking for banks to make use of a "consolidated back-up centre for data storage" which would exist alongside existing data retrieval centres that bank operates, according to Yonhap.

In the UK, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) at the Houses of Parliament has called for more public money to be ploughed into cyber security.

In its annual report (56-page / 1.99MB PDF) the ISC said that the UK "cannot afford to lag behind" other countries "in building its cyber skills and capabilities". The US is recruiting 4,000 "cyber command" personnel, the report said.

"Although we cannot hope to match the resources of the US, we must consider whether more resources are needed to provide a step-change in our cyber effort," it said.

The Committee's report said that funding for counter-terrorism measures should not suffer in order to boost cyber security funding. "Both areas must be adequately resourced," it said.

"Cyber security will continue to be a significant threat beyond the end of this Spending Review period. We are pleased to see that the funding for the National Cyber Security Programme will be extended into 2015/16. However, planning must begin now to ensure that resources will be made available to combat cyber attacks in the latter half of this decade, bearing in mind the resources our allies are putting into this area in recognition of the seriousness of the threat. The Government must ensure that real progress is made as part of the wider National Cyber Security Strategy: the UK cannot afford not to keep pace with the cyber threat," the ISC's report said.