A recent research study shows that there is a large concentration of risk to organizations when it comes to remote workers, data breaches, and third-party vendors.
This is spread across multiple verticals including supply chains, construction, professional services, manufacturing, and much more. While organizations are increasing their IT budgets to address cyber security, the critical question for management is where the funds should be directed to make a tangible impact to help close the gaps in visibility, strategy, and monitoring.
- 93 percent of businesses experience breaches caused by third-party vendors
- 97 percent of organizations report negative impacted by a cybersecurity breach
- 93 percent of businesses have suffered a direct cybersecurity breach
- 37 percent of organizations have seen a yearly increase in third-party cyber risk.
- 13 percent of businesses report third-party cyber risk as not a priority
- 31 percent of organizations report that supply chain and third-party cyber risk was not a concern
- 91 percent of businesses report an increase for cyber risk management
- 38 percent of organizations stated that they have no way of knowing of a third-party’s cybersecurity position
- 55 percent of healthcare organizations shows the highest rate of third-party cyber risk awareness
- 55 percent of organizations stated that identifying cyber risk is a key priority
- 29 percent of businesses report six to ten data breaches in the last 12 months
- 89 percent of healthcare organizations report that remote working has added extra risk to their infrastructure
- 29 percent of business leaders report remote working as no impact to their infrastructure risk.
Cyber security experts agree that even though they are seeing a rise in awareness around the issue, breaches and the resulting negative impact are still high. Organizations need to be more strategic in cyber security.
What about the remote workers?
According to new research by a data center specialist firm, remote working poses an increased cyber risk for organizations.
Many IT departments or tech savvy employees now work remotely as a result of changes brought about by COVID. They have reported that 77 percent of business owners consider remote working a cyber security risk.
A survey of 1,000 small and medium-sized businesses showed that 66 percent are struggling to monitor their infrastructure. Another 25 percent leave their IT infrastructure completely unmonitored therefore raising their cyber security risk leaving them a large target to becoming a future victim of a cyber-attack.
Organizations and management need to understand that data may not be included on a balance sheet but it is one of the most valuable assets that cannot be replaced like office equipment, computer, laptops, and servers.
As a result of the research study, remote working increases cyber risks for organizations as they leave their infrastructure unmonitored. This poses a significant risk of sensitive data that may be exposed, encrypted, third-party, and ransomware attacks.
Organization data and IT infrastructure should be treated as any other asset, and proactively protected. If an organization is unable to secure their infrastructure due to remote working or a lack of IT expertise, they must hire a managed IT services provider to do it for them, or run the risk of having their data compromised in the future.
365 iT SOLUTIONS is federally certified by the Canadian federal government under the CyberSecure Canada program.
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365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto that offers Managed IT Services, Tech Support Services, Cloud Services, Managed Security Services, IT Support Services, IT Outsourcing Services, Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR), and Cyber Security Training and Dark Web Monitoring.
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