Even as the government embarks upon beefing up country’s security following the Mumbai terror attacka, India Inc seems not to buck the spirit, says a survey released by KPMG on threat preparedness in corporate world.
The survey on select companies touching a turnover of over $150 million reveals that 53% respondents did not conduct such threat analysis ever at all. Only one-fifth of respondents had conducted such analysis and out of one-fifth around 24% of respondents reported of undertaking a comprehensive response plan, adds the survey.
The report highlights the whopping 58% respondents giving no consideration to terrorist attacks even in the Business Continuity Management (BCM) plans. However, almost 60% agreed that they can reduce the risk of such threats by taking appropriate measures. On security related aspects, corporates overwhelmingly feel that employee background verification is the most important aspect followed by IT and perimeter security. Corporates identify due diligence of vendors/service providers followed by training and perimeter security are the weakest areas within the organisational security.
According to respondents, air travel, hospitality and retail are soft targets and more prone to terror attacks as compared to others due to sheer volume of people visiting such places and easy access. On the allied issue of terrorist financing, KPMG report maintains that tackling money laundering with joint approach of private and public sector participation is needed.
While listing out proactive measures against terrorism, key recommendations of report calls for a training people for emergency response, continuous engagement with intelligence agencies to understand the alerts and react appropriately and educate IT users with risk management principals and counter-measures in case of a terrorist attack.