Banks lead other industries in physical security of IT assets

Banks tend to be staid, stolid, and conservative. Yet, a survey finds that when it comes to aspects of business continuity, they are way ahead of other industries. A recent survey of the European banking industry on attitudes toward business continuity finds that, of all sectors, banking is most likely to place the highest importance on the physical security of IT infrastructure. It is also the industry with the highest proportion of fit-for-purpose IT environments, demonstrating that banks acknowledge the need to house mission-critical IT infrastructure in purpose-built facilities. 97 percent of banks polled during the research, commissioned by Global Switch, stated that they were confident their mission-critical IT infrastructure was housed in a resilient, fit-for-purpose environment. Other industries asked the same question were less sure, with retailers coming in at 84 percent, and other commercial organizations at 79 percent. In addition, 93 percent of banks allocate a specific part of their budget to prepare and maintain the physical environment in which their IT infrastructure is located, compared with only 68 percent of retailers. The strong results from the banking sector indicate a high awareness of the impact that high quality physical environments have on business continuity.

A key factor in the banking industry’s attitude can be linked to the consideration of regulations such as Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley when assessing the resilience and security of IT infrastructure. Of those polled, nearly 70 percent of banks admitted that this was a significant consideration compared to only 40 percent of retail operations and just over 50 percent of other commercial organizations.

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