What's keeping IT chiefs awake at night?

Alongside the usual worries about damage caused by fire and natural disasters, IT managers are increasingly worried about technology disasters damaging the corporate brand, according to this year's disaster recovery report produced by security giant Symantec.

The report is based on a survey of 900 senior IT managers in 14 countries, including the UK.

According to the report, the three main concerns of IT managers are damage to IT infrastructure from natural disasters (69 per cent), virus attacks (57 per cent) and war and terrorism (31 per cent). These have remained the top three concerns since the report's inception five years ago.

According to Symantec's chief scientist, Guy Bunker, one of the most surprising findings in the report was "how much concern for brand image had risen as a concern for organisations".

The experience of companies such as retailer TJX, which in 2006 exposed details on 45 million of its customers, had "made a lot more people aware of the damage their brand could suffer", said Bunker.

He said: "Around 69 per cent of companies are concerned about possible damage to their brand from publicity from that type of incident. Sixty-five per cent are worried about damage to customer loyalty."

A problem for many companies is that they have a disaster-recovery plan but do not practice it, Bunker said. "Some companies try out a disaster-recovery plan and it does not work. Our report found that around 47 per cent tried it and it only worked in part."

Another trend is the increasing involvement of chief executives. In 2003, only seven per cent of senior IT executives said their chief executive sat on the disaster-recovery committee. That rose to eight per cent the following year, and it now stands at 23 per cent, the report said.

Colin Barker writes for ZDNet UK