Cybersecurity remains a massive problem for the business world to conquer. While new measures are put in place daily to stop cyberbullying, many companies still experience the misery of a cyberattack. These attacks can occur against a computer, computer system, or network. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, they cost companies over $4.2 billion annually.
The Liquid Web Cybersecurity Actions and Attitudes Study questioned 500 participants who had experienced some type of cyberattack between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. Over 50% of the participants were from companies employing between 100 and 999 employees. The majority of participants were between 35 and 44 years old, with slightly more men than women. The results from the study indicate that almost all companies lost revenue, even if the attack was unsuccessful.
What Did the Study Find?
- 76% spent money on software or hardware updates after the cyberattack
- 66% said that cybersecurity became a bigger priority after a cyberattack
- 62% of companies hired more IT support staff after the cyberattack
- 36% said that cybersecurity is now the top priority within their company
- 21% of those questioned said the problem lasted for more than 1 month
- 21% loss between $100,000 to over $1 million in revenue during the cyberattack
Takeaways to Apply
1, Protect your company against phishing as it is still the number one cybersecurity issue. The second-largest attack was through brute force, followed closely by malware.
2. Most participants reported that the attack lasted less than 12 hours. The second largest group said that the attack lasted less than 24 hours. Therefore, you may experience a very long day if you are targeted, but there are usually no long-term attacks.
3. Health care, financial services, and government were the most prominent groups to report that they did not know what type of attack hit their organization. At the same time, participants in these groups were very prepared for cyberattacks while workers were working from home and were confident their organization could handle future attacks. They were also among the highest groups to report that they had not prioritized cyberbullying within their organization.
5. Technology companies were the most likely to report that they had confidence in the security measures that their organization had already taken. Of course, many were reminded by the recent Facebook outage that overconfidence often creates problems as employees were locked out of offices because their digital badges were not working. Other employees had to scramble to restart the servers manually.
4. According to a study done by Gartner, companies will spend about 12% more in 2021 on protective software. Most companies are using more than 50 different cybersecurity programs to try to protect their websites from attacks. About 75% of attendees said their organizations had spent money on educational protocols and rollouts since their companies were attacked.
5. While over 55% of the attacks were unsuccessful, almost all companies lost money. According to Liquid Web, this financial loss comes from data damage or destruction, intellectual property theft, and stolen money. Keeping in mind that the participants worked for companies with less than 1,000 employees, the largest group reported that their organization lost at least $10,000. Nearly 50% of participants said their companies lost less than $20,000.
6. Nearly 66% of companies participating in the Liquid Web Cybersecurity Actions and Attitudes Study said they had hired more cybersecurity professionals since their companies were attacked. That is good news for those who want to follow this career path.
Take a look at your company’s cybersecurity keeping these facts in mind to see if you can spot deficiencies. Then, find workable solutions before someone decides to cyberbully your organization.
