Bangalore: Professional services firm Ernst and Young (E&Y) today said a survey among 69 Indian companies showed that the biggest security concern they faced were major viruses and Internet worms.

As per the findings of the Global Information Security Survey (GISS) 2004 released in Bangalore, E&Y said, besides virus attacks, spam mail and employee misconduct were the other major security concerns faced by Indian firms.

"While organisations remain focused on external threats such as viruses, the internal threats are constantly being under-emphasised," E&Y's Risk and Business Solutions practice partner Terry Thomas told reporters in Bangalore.

E&Y said about 91 per cent of Indian respondents have anti-virus systems and 56 per cent have specific anti-spam protection for their networks.

"However, less than half (40 per cent) respondents in India and globally provided their employees with ongoing training in security and controls," it said.

Thomas said companies who readily commit to technology purchases, are hesitant to assign priority to human capital.

"Indian organisations have cited availability of skilled staff as their top hurdle with user awareness in the second position," he said.