Business are displaying a false sense of security when it comes to their IT security, flying in the face of evidence showing rising incidents of cyber attacks.

That’s the conclusion of a study conducted by Ovum on behalf of US-based analytics firm FICO, which found that three quarters of UK execs felt their firm was getter prepped than competitors for  a cyber attack.

What’s more, and 43 per cent said their firm was a top performer – second highest only to Canada out of the eight countries surveyed.

By comparison, 68 per cent of executives from US firms said their firm was better prepared than their competitors, and 37 per cent said their firm was a top performer.

Ovum conducted telephone surveys for FICO of security executives at 500 companies in the US and 10 other countries in order to compile its report.

Power and utilities providers respondents in the US were the most confident, or least realistic, with 86 per cent rating their firms above average or top performers.

Financial services respondents were the least confident, or most realistic, with 60 per cent rating their firms above average or top performers.

In the UK, financial services respondents were least realistic, with 96 per cent rating their firms above average or top performers, while retail and e-commerce respondents were most realistic, with 57 per cent rating their firms above average or top performers.

Only 36 per cent of organisations are carrying out more than a point-in-time assessment of what their cybersecurity risk is.