"CEOs (chief executive officer) should understand that data loss, once it becomes public, puts their brand and shareholder equity at risk," said Pat Clawson, CEO and chairman of Lumension Security.

In the recently concluded "CEO Forum on IT Security" event held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City, Clawson told CEO participants that a company's brand could be damaged "irreparably" due to stolen information, and the business could lose customers.

"CEOs must take responsibility for understanding the impact on what data loss has for their business. They need to raise it to a board room issue," Clawson said.

Executives from Lumension, along with local enterprise security solutions company VSSC Distribution Inc., who hosted the breakfast forum on Monday, told Computerworld Philippines that the event is the first of a planned series of CEO forums focused on IT security awareness.

Jun Santos, president of VSSC, said the forum gathered around 40 CEOs belonging to the country's Top 100 corporations, including government.