NCC interims profits rise but CEO attacks lax corporate cyber security

The company it expects to meet market expectations for its full year results.

Group chief executive Rob Cotton took aim at company directors for failing to take responsibility for the protection of customer data, saying Britons were still "largely in the dark about what data of theirs has been compromised or how poor companies are at safeguarding their data".

"According to our recent 'Trust in the Internet' survey, almost two-thirds of consumers believe an online data breach will compromise their financial information within the next year."

Cotton said the numerous publicly reported cyber-attacks over the last few months, such as the embarrassing hack into TalkTalk's systems, demonstrated that the rate and complexity of cyber-crime had grown at a "faster rate than anyone expected".

"For example, our managed security scanning and monitoring service identifies over 10,000 incidents a day - twice as high as this time last year," he said.

"Six years ago, we stated that cyber-crime is an arms race and it remains so to this day. In a digital age, cyber-crime is the single biggest threat to corporates and individuals around the world.

"Cyber security and the associated risk mitigation is a board's responsibility. Directors must be fully accountable and a lack of understanding or knowledge is not an acceptable excuse."

"Boards that are not addressing cyber security with the same vigour and transparency as they do audit, remuneration, health & safety and CSR, are putting the operational and financial viability of their business at considerable risk, as well as its reputation."