While the majority of companies have important security building blocks in place, such as firewall and intrusion prevention solutions, less than half of Hong Kong companies (45%) surveyed have protections to fight botnets and advanced threats.

When asked to rank employee activities that pose the greatest risk, all regions surveyed unanimously cited the use of mobile devices -- including smartphones and tablet PCs -- as the biggest concern, followed by removable media devices, such as USB sticks, and remote access to the network, Check Point said.

There is a shortage of security related training for employees, the survey results indicated. Only 44% of companies say they have current training and awareness programs in place to prevent targeted attacks, Check Point said.

"Cybercriminals are no longer isolated amateurs. They belong to well-structured organizations, often employing highly-skilled hackers to execute targeted attacks, many of whom receive significant amounts of money depending on the region and nature of the attack," said Teller. "Cybercrime has become a business. With bot toolkits for hackers selling today for the mere price of $500, it gives people insight into how big the problem has become, and the importance of implementing preemptive protections to safeguard critical assets."