A global survey of some 900 CIOs from 23 countries, including Ireland, found that nearly three quarters (72%) of CIOs globally have named corporate extortion and ransomware as the most significant risks to businesses, according to a survey by Logicalis.
Following the threats of corporate extortion and ransomware, are attacks targeting corporate systems and application vulnerabilities (60%), followed by increasingly sophisticated social engineering attacks (58%), and identity and credential hijacking (43%). The old chestnut of malicious insiders was highlighted by less than a third (30%) of respondents. The survey found that one in three CIOs admitted that their concerns over security has led to either the curtailment or cancellation of IT projects, and that security is emerging as one of the main stumbling blocks for digital transformation initiatives. Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault commented below.
Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault:
“There are many risks that face organisations. Most are designed to fly under the radar in order to silently extract data, or commit fraud. However, ransomware and extortion, by its very nature is designed to be as loud and visible as possible. The technique not only impacts live systems, but shines a harsh spotlight onto security teams, and pressurises them to fix the issues quickly. Therefore, it is no surprise that many CIO’s consider these to be significant risks.
When dealing with any threat such as ransomware, it is important for CIOs to be prepared with capabilities to allow them to detect the threats quickly, and have processes in place to respond to them adequately.”
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