Data loss seen as most serious global risk: Survey

More than one-third of a group of senior executives and risk professionals surveyed earlier this year view loss of data as among the most serious threats facing their organizations.

In fact, loss of data was the most commonly cited threat in a new global risk report put out by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit for ACE European Group, IBM Corp. and KPMG L.L.P. Thirty-six percent of the 181 participants ranked it among the types of threats "seen to be most important in your organization's consideration of operational risk management planning."

Human error followed closely, being cited by 35% of the participants, and systems failure ranked third at 31%. Natural disasters, terrorism and pandemics showed up much lower on the list, behind such exposures as supply chain disruption and attacks on information technology systems.

"The survey shows that risk managers clearly understand the value of data and, increasingly are focusing on its associated losses," Gareth Tungett, senior underwriter specializing in IT and cyber risk at ACE, said in a statement released Friday discussing the survey's results.

The survey--"Business Resilience: Ensuring Continuity in a Volatile Environment"--is available at www.aceeuropeangroup.com.