Security threats are an afterthought in the race by companies to adopt new technologies and social media argues Ernst & Young information security leader Mike Trovato in a report on the group’s latest information security survey.

The survey found increased adoption of tablet computers and smartphones is seen as the biggest challenge to information security by 60 per cent of those surveyed, despite only 28 per cent of Australian organisations currently using tablet devices in the workplace.

There is also evidence security teams are failing to keep up with the demands of the business, with 51 per cent of the 1,700 global survey participants stating their information security function is not meeting the needs of the organisation, and 56 per cent indicating their information security strategy needs to be modified or requires further investigation.

In the meantime, Trovato says a lack of understanding of the real risks caused by social media, cloud computing and mobility are leading some firms to avoid them all together. Some 44 per cent of Australian executives surveyed said their organisation continues to restrict access to social media sites in order to reduce risk. 55 per cent said they are implementing policy adjustments.

Despite growing cloud computing adoption, Trovato says many organisations in Australia are still unclear of the security implications of cloud and are slow to adopt, therefore falling behind their global competitors.

“What we are seeing is organisations either moving to the cloud prematurely and without appropriately considering the associated risk, or avoiding it altogether.”