Recession puts intellectual property at risk, says McAfee

Companies worldwide lost more than $1 trillion worth of intellectual property last year and companies across eight countries lost $4.6 billion worth of intellectual property last year alone and spent approximately $600 million repairing the damage from data breaches, says a study by security technology company McAfee.

Developing countries are more motivated and spend more on protecting intellectual property than their Western counterparts. India, Brazil and China spent more money on security than Germany, UK , US and Japan . Seventy four percent of Chinese and sixty eight percent of Indian respondents invested in securing their intellectual property f or competitive advantage.

Thirty nine percent of respondents surveyed believe vital information is vulnerable in the current economic climate than before.

The report also sats that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting executives using sophisticated phishing techniques. The biggest concern f or thirty nine percent of respondents was protecting their intellectual property from outside data thieves.