Thirty percent of corporate general counsel surveyed indicate that the companies they represent aren't prepared to defend against cyber-attacks, according to recently released findings from the Consero 2012 General Counsel Survey.

Consero Group, a Bethesda, Md.-based event planner, and New York-based Applied Discovery, which specializes in electronic legal discovery, conducted the survey in conjunction with Consero's invitation-only event for a group of Fortune 1000 general counsel inDecember.

In addition, 28 percent of respondents said their companies had experienced a cybersecurity breach in the past 12 months.

"The findings of theConsero 2012 General Counsel Surveyare alarming," saysPaul Mandell, founder & CEO ofConsero Group."From cyberterrorism to competitive attacks to random hacking, the proliferation of security breaches remains a growing threat facing corporations. A renewed focus on preparedness and collaboration with their CIO counterparts seems necessary as GCs confront evolving threats in 2013.The stakes are high for GCs—particularly in highly regulated areas."

Additional findings spoke to the health of legal departments in terms of staff size, budgets, salary, and access to upper management.

Most budgets and staff sizes remained intact or increased, and a majority (72 percent) reported that they were satisfied with the level of resources available to them. Most of the respondents (54 percent) said that they report directly to the CEO, and an overwhelming 91 percent say they have sufficient access to their CEOs.GCs continue to be well compensated, with salaries of the surveyed participants ranging from$175,000to more than$400,000.