The likelihood of business disruption or data loss due to cyberattacks is now seen as one of the biggest risks faced by business organizations today. Although the total number of cyberattacks has been on the rise for the last ten years, the COVID-19 outbreak caused an uptick in the number of cybercrimes. The continuous cycle of malware, phishing, increasing cyber fraud, and other cyber attacks have increased post-pandemic, and they have stretched already challenged cybersecurity programs.
Statistics predict cybercrime damage to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021. This increased awareness of the danger is causing the responsibility for cybersecurity to shift from IT departments to other parts of organizations.
Today’s organizations are not just responding to such attacks technically but also educating internally on awareness and how to respond to the media and different elements of a security attack.
The Hybrid – work environment necessitated by the pandemic has also brought about an unprecedented change in the way businesses look at their security framework.
The IT is being integrated with operational technology. This increasing integration of Information Technology with Operational Technology is also causing a shift in the responsibility for cybersecurity, which means the onus is starting to be delegated to the business owners as well.
Although this trend is becoming popular, it is yet to make an impact in many traditional sectors, such as the banking industry. Such traditional industries are concerned about securing their ecosystem as they open up their systems to accelerate digital transformation. Cyber risk management is new to them, so they have to start from the beginning to learn to tackle such attacks.
With increasing technological proliferation, cybersecurity risks are increasing, but they are also having a positive impact by pushing many organizations to elevate their security measures and focus their minds on this very important element of their business.
The threat landscape in the business world is undergoing a rapid transformation, and organizations are ramping up their efforts to thwart the potential cyber threats by bridging IT security gaps, preparing for recovery if a cyberattack ever happens, and managing shifting privacy regulations.
Employees are being constantly educated on ways to get used to the new normal of remote working. They are also being sent constant reminders to not click on links found in suspicious-looking emails.
It is this increased awareness and shift in mindset towards security investments and implementation, which will be required to safeguard against ever-increasing cybersecurity threats.
