Majority businesses struggle to manage cyber risks: report

Cybersecurity firm Barracuda Networks has today published the CIO report: titled “Leading your business through cyber risk”. IT explores the top governance challenges facing companies trying to manage cyber risk and boost their cyber resilience. The report offers practical tools such as a checklist template, created with Barracuda’s own IT and security leadership, to help companies navigate their way to resilience.

Leveraging data from the international Cybernomics 101 study, the report assesses how challenges relating to security policies, management support, third-party access, and supply chains can undermine a company’s ability to withstand and respond to cyberattacks. Only 43% of surveyed organizations expressed confidence in their ability to address cyber threats.

The report identifies inconsistent security policies as a major hurdle, particularly for smaller businesses. Nearly half (49%) of smaller companies surveyed struggle to implement consistent security measures like authentication and access controls across their entire organization.

Over a third (35%) of smaller businesses surveyed believe senior management underestimates the significance of cyberattacks. Additionally, larger companies grapple with resource limitations, citing budget (38%) and a lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals (35%) as key challenges.

The report also raises concerns about supply chain security. Many organizations lack adequate control and visibility into the security practices of third-party vendors who may have access to sensitive data. This exposes the entire organization to potential breaches through the supply chain.

“For many businesses today, a security incident of some kind is almost inevitable,” said Siroui Mushegian, CIO of Barracuda Networks. “What matters is how you prepare for, withstand, respond to, and recover from the incident. This is cyber resilience. Advanced, defense-in-depth security solutions will take you most of the way there, but success also depends on security governance — the policies and programs, leadership, and more that enable you to manage risk. When NIST updated its benchmark cybersecurity framework earlier this year, it added security governance as a strategic priority.”

The report offers practical templates to help organizations manage cyber risk and map where they are in their journey toward cyber resilience. The cyber resilience checklist draws on the latest iteration of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework and can be freely downloaded and printed from the Barracuda website.

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Get a copy of the report: https://www.barracuda.com/reports/cyber-resilience-report