Companies urged to beef up cybersecurity

With rapidly increasing cyberattacks on online data, Chinese companies and organizations need to beef up their input on cybersecurity, said a senior executive of technology major Qihoo 360 Technology Co.

Qi Xiangdong, chairman of 360 Enterprise Security Group, an internet security company affiliated to Qihoo 360, said as more companies and organizations enjoy the convenience brought by the internet and big data technologies, there remains increasing security risks.

"Entering a new era of big data, cybersecurity will become as important as money and online data will become a key target of online criminals and hackers."

He added that cybersecurity was of the utmost urgency and there was a pressing need for an upgraded cybersecurity systems of companies.

With the unprecedented global cyberattack occurring in May, the "WannaCry" ransomware virus has seized hundreds of thousands of computers in more than 150 countries and regions. In China, the virus reportedly wreaked havoc in around 30,000 institutions, including universities and gas stations.

"The recent WannaCry virus highlights a huge rise in hacking attacks targeting governments, companies and organizations. And similar cyberattackers will become more rampant and the data breach trend will get worse in the future." Qi said.

He stressed that compared with mature markets such as the Europe and the United States, the Chinese companies' awareness of cybersecurity is still underdeveloped.

According to Qi, China's input to cybersecurity only accounts for less than one percent of the total IT investment, while the level for the US and Europe are 15 percent and 10 percent.

A report of more than 100 organizations by 360 revealed that over half of the surveyed entities have not scheduled assessments of their system security in the past year, which made them easy targets of the ransomware virus.

"Companies and organizations need to keep an eye on the potential security risks and should strengthen their awareness of cybersecurity in the first place. And they should also cooperate with professional safety corporates to build an emergency system that can respond quickly," Qi added.

In the wake of the mounting cyberattacks, China has called for a deeper cooperation between companies and industry associations to boost the construction of a cybersecurity system.

"We will step up efforts to promote the construction of information infrastructure, expand broadband network coverage, and build up the industrial internet platform," Industry and Information Technology Minister Miao Wei said at the China Internet Conference in Beijing on Tuesday.