Increase in cyberattacks amid Covid-induced digitization: (representational) study
New Delhi/Davo:
The accelerating pace of digitization, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a record year for cybercrime with ransomware attacks up 151% in 2021 and an average of 270 cyberattacks per organization faced, a new study showed on Tuesday.
The World Economic Forum’s “Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022,” released at its Davos Agenda Online Summit, further stated that each successful cyber breach cost a business $3.6 million ( almost Rs 27 crore) last year, while the hacked company’s average share price underperformed the NASDAQ by almost 3% even six months after the event in case the breach becomes public.
The WEF said the global digital economy has surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but so has cybercrime and nearly 80% of cyber leaders now view ransomware as a ‘danger’ and ‘threat’ for public safety.
At the same time, there is a large perception gap between business leaders who think their business is secure and security managers who disagree.
Some 92% of surveyed business leaders agree that cyber resilience is integrated into enterprise risk management strategies, but only 55% of surveyed cyber leaders agree. This leadership gap can leave organizations vulnerable to attack as a direct result of incongruous security priorities and policies, the report says.
Even after a threat is detected, the WEF survey conducted in conjunction with Accenture found that nearly two-thirds would struggle to respond to a cybersecurity incident due to lack of skills within their team.
Even more troubling is the growing trend that businesses need an average of 280 days to identify and respond to a cyberattack. To put this into perspective, an incident that occurs on January 1 may not be fully contained until October 8.
“Enterprises must now embrace cyber resilience, not only to defend against cyberattacks, but also to prepare for rapid and timely incident response and recovery in the event of an attack,” said the CEO of the WEF, Jeremy Jurgens.
Accenture President and CEO Julie Sweet said organizations need to work more closely with ecosystem partners and other third parties to embed cybersecurity into the DNA of their ecosystem, so they can be resilient and promote customer confidence.
The survey also revealed that less than a fifth of cyber leaders are convinced that their organizations are cyber-resilient.
Additionally, they don’t feel consulted on business decisions and struggle to gain support from decision makers in prioritizing cyber risks, when recruiting and retaining the right talent is their biggest concern.
Furthermore, almost nine out of ten consider SMEs to be the weakest link in the supply chain.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
