According to the latest Ernst & Young (EY) figures, only one in five (20%) cybersecurity leaders are confident in their organization’s approach to cybersecurity – a concerning figure in a landscape of increasing threats both by volume and variety.
The EY 2023 Global Cybersecurity Leadership Insights Study of 500 global cybersecurity leaders found some of the key failings to be around organizations’ training measures and a lack of cybersecurity outside of the core IT team.
Calling for immediate action to prevent future threats from affecting businesses, EY says that organizations need to “simplify to survive.”
Businesses really aren’t getting cybersecurity right
Recent years have seen threats develop and adapt, and companies have had to take new and innovative approaches to tackle them, which has seen the adoption of even more technologies.
However, EY found that only around one-third (36%) of the study’s participants were satisfied with the levels of adoption of best practices outside of their organization’s IT department.
The severity has never been higher, because the median cost of a breach to participants’ organizations has increased by 12% year-on-year to $2.5 million. That figure is expected to grow substantially, with a sum of $4 million firmly in sight.
Richard Watson, EY Global and Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, summarized the company’s findings:
“The levels of dissatisfaction are more worrying when seen in the context of increasing geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty and the rapid adoption of emerging technologies that will push the number of incidents to even higher levels and see cyber adversaries continually evolve.”
Looking ahead, this EY study is just one in a growing number finding that simplicity is key to ensuring better protection. Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are also playing an important role in extracting value from existing tools.
Referring to the “clutter” of technology affecting most organizations, Watson added: “Instilling a culture of being brilliant at the basics of cybersecurity across the organization can prove to be the best defense.”
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