Nearly half (46 percent) of the fastest growing companies in the United States have suffered a recent breach of their information security, despite beefed-up precautions since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In most cases, these businesses were victims of computer viruses or worms, with hackers and e-mail the suspected door-openers. As a result, 83 percent of victims experienced monetary loss; and nearly one in four suffered network downtime. After being hit in the bottom line, two-thirds of businesses report that information security is important to their company’s near-term profitable growth — and 15 percent are planning budget increases for it this year. Relatively few have identified information security priorities for the next 12 months. Full Story