Benchmarking your company’s cybersecurity readiness
South Africa is still under major threat of cyberattacks, with high profile companies and government departments falling prey to ransomware and other online threats on a continuous basis.
You may have heard a first-hand account of a company having its data taken hostage, and some of the stories have certainly made headlines over the past two years, but now there’s further support for this trend from a major cybersecurity survey.
Cisco’s 2024 cybersecurity readiness report was released recently and to sum up: we aren’t ready.
Cisco, which is one of the world’s foremost productivity software and cybersecurity app providers compiles an annual report based on industry surveys of IT managers and cybersecurity experts to gauge a country’s readiness for online attacks.
For the 2024 report, Cisco analysed the five pillars of cyber security readiness and asked company representatives how well they have prepared for them.
Let’s take a look at each factor to understand exactly what it entails
- Identity intelligence. This measures how effective a company’s authorised user identification systems are and how easy it might be for cybercriminals to impersonate an employee or steal their credentials.
- Network resilience. This factor assesses how easily a cybercriminal could gain access to your network remotely due to inadequate security measures.
- Machine trustworthiness. This is a measure of how effective your cybersecurity system is at the machine level, which is especially important in the age of “bring your own device” or BYOD.
- Cloud reinforcements. This is an assessment of the sophistication of your cloud backup technology, which provides the ultimate layer of data theft protection.
- AI fortification. This measure – which was introduced recently – assesses the extent of AI deployment in companies and also whether they are resistant to AI enabled cybercrime attempts.
Most SA companies expect a cyberattack, but few are ready
The South African IT managers and cybersecurity experts surveyed by Cisco overwhelmingly expect to have to deal with a cyberattack in the next year, with 73% of companies, indicating that this is the case.
Unfortunately, only 5% of local businesses have reached the mature stage of cybersecurity readiness measured by the report, indicating that the majority of companies would not be able to cope well in the aftermath of a cyberattack.
Considering how the number of cyberattacks in South Africa keeps increasing and the relatively low level of readiness found at most companies, one of the most effective ways you can increase your own preparedness is by investing in secure cloud storage with immutable encryption.
Our range of cloud storage solutions with automated backup are suitable for companies of all sizes and can scale up in line with your business requirements. Browse our range of packages and raise your readiness level instantly today.