About half of IT professionals are unaware of current threats that may affect their companies, and nearly half of companies say they don't feel prepared to combat cybercrime.

According to a survey conducted by B2B International on behalf of Kaspersky Lab (PDF), half of companies are not knowledgeable about the potential security threats they may face. Some 31 percent of respondents admitted they had never heard of any of the cyberepidemics that recently pose direct threats to their organizations, the study says.

Fifty-nine percent of organizations said they feel "more or less prepared" for current cybercrime threats, the study says. More than half (51 percent) believe they are incapable of protecting their companies from industrial espionage.

Fifty-eight percent of the IT professionals surveyed highlighted a lack of resources in both security staffing and budget, the study says. They attributed the shortages in staffing, training, and budget to a lack of understanding of security threats by senior management.

Thirty-five percent of companies say they have insufficient numbers of personnel trained to deal with IT threats -- an issue particularly prevalent in North America, according to the study. Training -- in IT, among top executives, and among end users -- has become a key issue, the survey says.

"Businesses have begun to worry, leading to increases in the number of IT staff working specifically in IT security -- now about 40 percent of IT staff in companies all around the world," says Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab. "However, IT security staff are not always sufficiently trained and competent to protect businesses from the most pertinent threats."

Have a comment on this story? Please click "Add a Comment" below. If you'd like to contact Dark Reading's editors directly, send us a message.