Cyber attacks a hot topic in SEC filings
In light of Intel’s recent disclosure that they were the target of a cyber attack in January around the same time that Google was affected, we decided to see if this is a growing concern of companies.
We found that 9 companies used the phrase “cyber attack” in their 2009 disclosures, while 35 companies have already used this phrase in the first two months of 2010 - a marked increase.
While this search was by no means scientific, evidenced by Intel’s artful evasion of the term in their disclosure, it certainly says something. A recent 8-K from Google stated, ” Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis” and several 2010 filings we looked at reported a growing prevalence of attacks.
