Cyber security: Is your safety net strong enough?

Our annual survey of more than 1,000 C-suite executives worldwide, conducted at the end of 2021, reveals that cyber security is now a major preoccupation among corporate leaders. Effective cyber defense has become a delicate balancing act for many businesses; having a strong safety net that can cushion any eventual fall is paramount.

Our research reveals:

• Business leaders everywhere are bracing for cyberattacks but remain confident they can withstand them. More than half (54%) of business leaders saw an increase in cyber threats over the past year, and 35% expect a significant data breach in their company in the coming year. Nonetheless, most companies seem confident in their ability to cope with attacks: in the U.S., 80% of business leaders see their company’s data as being “completely protected”.
• Financial losses are the biggest perceived risk. More than half (56%) of the business leaders we surveyed put financial losses as one of the top data protection risks. The levels of concern and confidence range from industry to industry, with finance, technology and consumer businesses the most confident.
• Effective cyber defense rests on five pillars: identification, prevention, detection, response and recovery. Each has an important technological component, and a critical human component. Business continuity plans need to have been painstakingly elaborated and extensively tested so they can be adopted seamlessly by the entire organization.
• Shifting mindsets to prepare for the worst is the best defense. Cyber security is a fast-evolving field, with attackers now heavily armed (including with AI) and often two steps ahead of the organizations in their sights. Accepting that data breaches will happen and having robust plans for handling them provides the best assurance that the response will be swift, recovery effective and the costs limited.

Cyber threats are here to stay – and they will get worse. That is the sober reality of C-suite sentiment. The best protected organizations will be those that strengthen their cyber safety net. Now is the time for action.