According to a recent Cisco study, only 9% of Canadian organizations are prepared to defend against modern cybersecurity threats. The Cybersecurity Readiness Index assesses a company's readiness to maintain cybersecurity resilience in the face of modern threats by examining five core pillars that form the baseline of required defenses: identity, devices, network, application workloads, and data.
The study was conducted by an independent third-party survey of 6,700 private sector cybersecurity leaders across 27 markets. The study highlights where businesses are doing well and where cybersecurity readiness gaps will widen if global business and security leaders don’t take action.
The report shows that organizations have moved from an operating model that was largely static to a hybrid world in which they increasingly operate from multiple devices in multiple locations, connect to multiple networks, access applications in the cloud, and generate enormous amounts of data. This presents new and unique cybersecurity challenges for companies.
The readiness gap is significant, with only 9% of Canadian organizations classified as Mature and 57% of organizations falling into the Beginner or Formative stages, indicating that their cybersecurity readiness is below average. This gap is concerning, as 77% of respondents said they expect a cybersecurity incident to disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months.
The cost of being unprepared can be significant, with 51% of respondents reporting a cybersecurity incident in the last 12 months, and 34% reporting that it cost them at least US $500,000. The study highlights that business leaders must establish a baseline of ‘readiness’ across the five security pillars to build secure and resilient organizations.
The report recommends that organizations should stop approaching defense with a mix of point tools and instead consider integrated platforms to achieve security resilience while reducing complexity. Only then will businesses be able to close the cybersecurity readiness gap.
The study highlights the areas where Canadian organizations need to improve their resilience against the emerging threat landscape. These include identity, where only 15% of organizations are ranked Mature, network security, where 64% of organizations are in the Beginner or Formative stages, application workloads, where 73% of organizations are in the Beginner or Formative stages, and data, which has the second-highest number of companies in the Mature stage.
The report recommends that Canadian organizations take significant and meaningful steps to increase their cybersecurity readiness to improve their resilience against the emerging threat landscape. The report also indicates that 78% of respondents plan to increase their security budgets by at least 10% over the next 12 months.
In conclusion, the Cisco study highlights the significant cybersecurity readiness gap that exists in Canadian organizations, leaving them vulnerable to threats that continue to grow and evolve. Organizations must take significant and meaningful steps to increase their cybersecurity readiness and improve their resilience against the emerging threat landscape. By establishing a baseline of readiness across the five security pillars, organizations can build on their strengths and prioritize the areas where they need more maturity to improve their resilience
This blog was written by the Activated Solutions team. If you are a business owner or an individual concerned about your cybersecurity, it's time to take action. Activated Solutions can help you to protect your business and personal data from potential cyber threats.
Contact Activated Solutions today to learn more about how they can help you protect your business. With our expertise and commitment to cybersecurity, you can have peace of mind knowing that you are taking proactive steps to protect yourself and your business from potential data breaches.
For more information, please visit: activatedsolutions.ca.
References
GlobeNewswire. “New Cisco Study Finds Only 9% of Canadian Companies Surveyed Are Ready ...” New Cisco Study Finds Only 9% of Canadian Companies Surveyed Are Ready to Defend Against Cybersecurity Threats, 21 Mar. 2023, https://financialpost.com/globe-newswire/new-cisco-study-finds-only-9-of-canadian-companies-surveyed-are-ready-to-defend-against-cybersecurity-threats.
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