At the gate

Few topics squeeze out more angst for company board members than two words: data breach.

The list of giant businesses to suffer that fate includes Home Depot, Target and Fort Myers-based 21st Century Oncology, among others. Yet even with all the publicity, a wide gulf remains in how board members learn about data breaches, deal with them and help their companies recover, according to a new survey.

The survey, the Cyber Balance Sheet Report, is from Tampa-based Focal Point Data Risk LLC, a cybersecurity and data risk management firm formerly named Sunera. The Cyentia Institute, a Virginia cybersecurity research services firm, is the lead independent researcher on the report. Both entities say the survey, which includes interviews with scores of board members, chief information security officers and industry experts, is the first of its kind in the field.