Are Public Companies More Susceptible to Hacking?

While there are many financial benefits to investing in a public company, there is also a certain amount of risk. It's not the risk typically associated with any investment, but rather a company's cyber security efforts or lack thereof. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission believes that cyber security issues are one of the top issues to be considered before investing in a public company. This is because cyber threats don't just include efforts to find confidential company information, but include attacks to private information of various investors (i.e., you). This may include bank account details, confidential financial data, and other private information. Through various studies, researchers have narrowed down the problem to be a weakness in software applications. 

According to the Web Hacking Incident Database (WHID), most companies fail to report how their information was breached in the first place. Initial testing of security software doesn't do much to calm concerns since more than 80% of web applications from public companies didn't offer sufficient protection when these applications were tested for vulnerability. Most companies fail to perform some type of risk assessment to pinpoint weakness in their cyber security software that could leave them vulnerable to attack. While some companies address cyber security in their SEC filings, others either gloss over the issue or don't report it all. The SEC makes a strong case for the need to disclose cyber security issues. This infographic which includes Veracode’s new State of Software Security Report, outlines all of the pertinent facts and data regarding this troubling issue facing public companies today.

This infographic was created by Veracode, a leading Web security company.