30% Of Business Leaders Would Pay Ransom
The recently released Risk: Value Report 2019, by NTT Security, examined the attitudes of more than 2,200 non-IT decision makers to risk and value of cybersecurity to the business across 20 countries.
The findings revealed cyber-security threats are at the top of the agenda for business leaders, with cyber-attacks (43%) on the top, followed by data loss or theft (37%), and attacks on critical infrastructure (35%).
Respondents had stated that these cybersecurity issues could affect their organisation in the next 12 months, and thus impacting the organisation more likely than other global issues such as terrorism and government failure.
It is evident that organisations want to address cybersecurity concerns, with respondents stating that strong information and protecting data integrity were important to 84% and 85% of businesses respectively. With 88% of respondents citing that strong cybersecurity measures would benefit their organisation.
Amongst the findings it was identified that organisations report that their critical data is no more secure than it was last year, with 48% of all organisations stating that their critical data is secure, whist only 45% have secured all of their organisation’s data.
Only 58% of organisations have a formal security policy, out of which, 48% stated that employees were fully aware of the policy, with just 28% who fully-understood the policies.
The Report Conclusions
“The regulatory landscape, particularly regarding the privacy of personally identifiable information, has changed considerably in the last few years, but many businesses are not keeping pace with these changes.”
- Only 30% of companies think GDPR affects them, with 83% of organisations feeling that compliance is important, however 13% are unaware as to what regulations their organisations are subject to.
- In regards to ransomware, 33% of organisations would consider paying a ransom to an attacker instead of investing in cybersecurity, as they believe it is cheaper.
It was also identified that 36% would rather pay a ransom than get a fine for non-compliance, thus indicating a clear fear about the potential consequences of being non-compliant, but also “indicates a lack of confidence in the ability of some organizations to deal with important regulatory issues”.
Azeem Aleem, VP Consulting, NTT Security said:
“The Risk: Value report is an interesting barometer based on responses from those sitting outside of the IT function – and is often very revealing. What’s clear is that the world around them is changing, and changing fast, with the introduction of new regulations, integration of new technologies and fast-paced digital transformation projects changing the way we work.
“What’s concerning though is that organisations seem to have come to a standstill in their journey to cybersecurity best practice, and it’s particularly worrying to see UK businesses falling behind in some critical areas like incident response planning.
“Decision makers clearly see security as an enabler; something that can help the business and society in general. But while awareness of cyber risks is high, organisations still lack the ability, or perhaps the will, to manage them effectively. The execution of cybersecurity strategies must improve or business risk will escalate for the organisations concerned.”
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