Asia biz leaders proactive in privacy, governance

Asian organizations are ahead of their North America and European counterparts in terms of their boards undertaking key activities associated with privacy and security governance. They, however, lag when it comes to instituting specialized governance positions, finds one study.

According to the finalized version of 2012 Carnegie Mellon CyLab Governance survey, which was released Wednesday, 76 percent of Asian companies are more likely to have a board risk committee responsible for privacy and security. By comparison, 35 percent of North American companies and 41 percent of ones would follow suit.

However, they are also more likely to combine security and privacy roles into one position, with 82 percent of companies indicating so, compared with the 48 percent and 44 percent of European and North American companies, respectively, it noted.

As a result, only 5 percent of Asian companies have a chief privacy officer (CPO) in their ranks, which lags behind North America's 23 percent, but ahead of Europe's 3 percent. Asian companies are also less likely to have a chief information security officer (CISO) or chief security officer (CSO), at 52 percent, compared to U.S. organizations at 58 percent and Europe at 72 percent, the report stated.

The third biennial survey, conducted by Carnegie Mellon CyLabs on behalf of RSA, the security arm of EMC, is based on results from 108 respondents at the board or senior executive level from Forbes Global 2000 companies. The preview of the survey was released earlier in February, which found top executives showing a lack of attention on privacy and security risks, while the finalized report including regional- and industry-specific breakdown in data findings.