The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2018 revealed that 7 out of 10 of the organizations surveyed were not able to meet cyber readiness standards. The report surveyed executives and IT personnel from more than 4000 companies in the U.S. and Europe. Approximately 1000 of those were based in the U.S., and for the largest of these the survey also found that costs from a cyberattack could reach up to $25 million.
The sectors that are targeted most often according to the report are financial services, energy, telecommunication and government entities. Technology and communications sectors were more likely to have personnel knowledgeable in cybersecurity, while professionals had the least. The study also found several correlations between company size, IT budget, and cyber readiness. Generally, the more that an organization had devoted to improving their cyber defense, the higher their readiness. Despite this, those the survey deemed “cyber experts” were just as likely to suffer from an attack as those labeled “cyber novices.”
The report makes several conclusions from these facts, including that the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar legislation that mandates breach notifications as a legal requirement will cause a significant paradigm shift. It also found that one of the big differences between cyber experts and novices was the level of response to network incidents they had suffered and the steps they took to prevent future occurrences. Hiscox made several recommendations for improving cybersecurity, including for businesses to improve training and processes in addition to IT budget spending, as well as for smaller organizations to consider delegating their network monitoring to outsourced IT firms.
The Hiscox report represents the reality of modern cybersecurity, in that current trends are constantly shifting faster than many organizations are able to adapt to. Modern network defense requires a proportionally greater amount of commitment and effort to be able to successfully thwart breach attempts. Those that are not prepared for this evolution might find the level of time and resources necessary to defend against every conceivable threat to be staggering.
MSPs such as SWK Network Services are able to remove some or all of that burden for SMBs and enterprises by providing external IT support in a timely and cost-effective manner. Our focus on managing your network allows us to put all of our energy into you and protecting your network so that you do not have to divert time away from managing your business.
Contact us to learn how you can accurately determine your cyber readiness with a Network Vulnerability Test.
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