Heads rolled in 1 of 3 Singapore firms after cyberattack
 

IT and security leaders in Singapore must address, on average, one cyberattack per week according to results of a new study released by Rubrik Zero Labs. 

Commissioned by Rubrik and conducted by Wakefield Research, the study covered 1,625 IT and security decision makers — including 125 respondents in Singapore — at companies of 500 or more employees. Respondents were made up of approximately half CIOs and CISOs and half VPs and directors of IT and security. 

The research was conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and India last July 18-27.

Findings show that nearly every respondent experienced a cyberattack over the past year, and on average faced 55 attacks in that time frame or nearly one cyberattack per week.

A majority (53%) reported a data breach and 59% reported facing a ransomware attack in the past year.

Only 9% of organisations were able to return to business continuity or normal operations within one hour of discovering a cyberattack.

Almost half (49%) of IT and security leaders reported to be concerned about data breaches (20%) or ransomware events (29%) as the top threat for the year ahead.

Also, firms are losing confidence in their ability to withstand attacks as 95% of respondents are concerned they will be unable to maintain business continuity if they experience a cyberattack.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents believe their board of directors has little to no confidence in their organisation’s ability to recover critical data and business applications after a cyberattack.

More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents reported their organisation is likely to consider paying a ransom following a cyberattack.

One in every 12 (8%) of IT and security leaders said they had not adequately addressed vulnerabilities from previous cyber events.

Further, the weight of cybercrime is taking a toll as 92% of respondents reported experiencing significant emotional or psychological consequences following a cyberattack, ranging from worries over job security (44%) to loss of trust among colleagues (31%).

Two in every five (39%) respondents reported leadership changes as a result of a cyberattack. It was worse in Singapore, where more than one-third of respondents said so.

One in every four (24%) of leaders surveyed said their IT and SecOps teams were either somewhat or not at all aligned when it came to defending their organisations.

“It’s clear from this research that cyberattacks continue to produce large impacts against global organizations and the effects are compounding,” said Steven Stone, head of Rubrik Zero Labs. 

“Without a proactive and reliable approach to defend against modern cyberthreats and strengthen confidence in an organization’s ability to resolve these cyber events, these impacts — both human and organizational — will continue to worsen and feed each other,” said Stone.