GEC NEWS WIRERedSeal has released the results of a CEO study, which surveyed perceptions of – and confidence in – their cybersecurity posture
The study, based on a survey of 200 chief executive officers from organizations across a host of major industries, including technology, finance, manufacturing, government and retail, found that more than 80 percent of CEOs are very confident in their firm’s cybersecurity strategies, despite the fact that security incidents have surged 66 percent year-over-year since 2009 according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2017 Global State of Information Security Survey.
“CEOs are underestimating their companies’ cyber vulnerabilities,” said Ray Rothrock, chairman and CEO of RedSeal. “Their confidence does not square with what we observe. Cyber-attacks are up and financial losses associated with these attacks are increasing dramatically.” This is a particularly acute problem in the Middle East, where according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2016 report on cybersecurity in the Middle East, companies in the Middle East suffered larger financial losses than their global counterparts as a result of cyber-attacks with 50% reporting losses greater than US$500,000 as opposed to 33% globally.
“The new cyber battleground is inside the network, not at the perimeter,” said Rothrock. “Firewalls, virus detectors, and malware scans are required to keep out 99 percent of the bad guys, but the one percent who get in can cripple a firm, critical infrastructure or a government agency.”
The study found that, while 87 percent of CEOs agree that they need a better way to measure the effectiveness of their cybersecurity investments, 84 percent still plan to increase their spending in the next year. A trend reiterated by IDC’s Oct. 2016 prediction that organizations will spend $101.6 billion on cybersecurity software, services, and hardware in 2020, a 38 percent increase from its 2016 spend projections.
“CEOs project a great level of confidence when asked about their cybersecurity strategies, however their perceptions aren’t in line with reality,” said James Kaplan, partner at McKinsey & Company and co-author of Beyond Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Digital Business. “For years, the IT security industry has operated with the understanding that every organization will suffer a security incident. Given this inevitability, CEOs should be much more focused on building resilience into their businesses so they can maintain operations when the breach occurs.”
