Nearly Three-Quarters of Firms Globally Hit By Cyber Attacks Last Year

Information security remains one of the most important concerns for data managers, and for very good reason. A new international study reveals that nearly three-quarters of organizations were the victims of a security incident in the past year alone.

The International Trends in Cybersecurity report from CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the technology industry, finds that nearly three out of four organizations globally have been plagued by at least one security breach or incident in the past year, with about 60 percent of breaches categorized as serious.

The  solutions. More than 1,500 business and technology executives in 12 countries were surveyed. The report includes data from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

“The importance of cyber report also reveals that organizations are altering security practices and policies due to greater reliance on cloud computing and mobile technology security knowledge and readiness continues to grow regardless of geography,” said Amy Carrado, senior director, research and market intelligence, CompTIA. “Our survey found that 79 percent of companies expect cybersecurity to become a higher priority over the next two years.”

Across all countries surveyed, 73 percent of organizations said they’ve experienced at least one security breach or incident in the past 12 months. Self-reported security breaches were most prevalent in India (94 percent), Malaysia (89 percent), Brazil (87 percent), Mexico (87 percent) and Thailand (82 percent). Organizations in Japan (39 percent) and the UAE (40 percent) self-reported the lowest percentages of cybersecurity incidents.

The percentage of mobile-related security incidents – such as lost devices, mobile malware and phishing attacks or staff disabling security features – was even higher: 76 percent across all 12 countries. Mobile incidents were self-reported at the highest percentages in Thailand (95 percent), India (92 percent) and Mexico (89 percent); and in the lowest percentages in Japan (60 percent), the UAE (60 percent) and the UK (64 percent).

In 10 of 12 countries, changes in IT operations, whether due to greater reliance on mobile technology, the use of cloud-based solutions or some other factor, were listed as the top driver for altering approaches to cybersecurity.

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