Companies that established corporate information security policies increased by 2.4% compared to the previous year


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The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced that the results of the 2015 Information Security Survey showed that information security prevention and response activities by companies and the general public had improved overall, and that the occurrence of security breaches had also decreased.

The Information Security Status Survey is conducted annually by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, commissioned to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA). It was carried out through face-to-face interviews from last August to September, targeting 8,000 companies with one or more employees and 4,000 individuals. This survey also included an investigation into mobile security to diagnose the current status of mobile security threats, which have been continuously increasing recently.

According to the survey results for the corporate sector, the percentage of businesses that have established information security policies was 13.7%, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared to the previous year. In particular, the overall level of organizational management related to information security was found to have improved, including the operation of information security organizations (7.9%, 5.1 percentage points increase), the appointment of Chief Information Security Officers (11.0%, 3.3 percentage points increase), and the implementation of training (14.9%, 1.7 percentage points increase). In addition, response activities such as establishing emergency contact systems and response teams also increased (17.5%, 9.9%p↑), and the experience of security incidents decreased compared to the previous year (1.8%, 0.4%p↓).

Meanwhile, the percentage of companies investing in information security increased by 8.1% from the previous year to 18.6%, but the proportion of information security budgets within the total IT budget remained at the previous year's level (1.4%, up 0.3%p), indicating that there is a continued need for companies to expand their investment in information security budgets and specialized personnel.

Individuals are also raising their awareness of information protection.
Consider the importance of security more important than convenience.

In the personal sector, the majority of the public recognizes the importance of information security (94.7%, 0.8%p increase), and preventive activities such as the use of information security products (84.3%, 0.5%p increase) and performing backups (30.5%, 7.6%p increase) have increased. Additionally, it was found that 92.1% of information security product users perform antivirus updates, and the implementation rate for operating system security updates is at the 83.0% level. Consequently, the experience of security breaches decreased significantly compared to the previous year (13.5%, 8.5%p decrease).

Respondents indicated that security (61.4%) is perceived as more important than convenience (9.2%) regarding simple payment services, suggesting that securing trust in security is more critical for these services.

A mobile security survey revealed that 32% of mobile device users have experienced malware infections, indicating a trend of cyber security threats shifting to mobile. Mobile security incidents mainly occur due to access to internet addresses such as text messages (41.7%), mail, and bulletin boards (31.2%), and it was found that 87.6% of mobile device users use mobile antivirus apps and 27.6% use smishing blocking apps.

Meanwhile, it was found that 56.7% of users store their accredited certificates on mobile devices, and 77.6% of them store them in the mobile device's memory, indicating a need to strengthen security.

Song Jeong-su, Director of Information Security Policy at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, gave a positive assessment, stating, “The increase in information security prevention and response activities and the decrease in the experience of security breaches are the result of the overall rise in social awareness regarding information security.” However, he also noted, “Reflecting the survey results, continuous efforts are needed in 2016 to promote corporate investment in information security, strengthen mobile security, and expand the adoption of safe and convenient electronic authentication.”