ThoughtLab reveals 10 best practices for cybersecurity in 2022


ThoughtLab, the global research firm, has announced the findings of its 2022 cybersecurity benchmarking study, Cybersecurity Solutions for a Riskier World.

The study analysed the cybersecurity strategies and results of 1,200 large organisations across 14 different sectors and 16 countries, representing $125.2 billion of annual cybersecurity spending.

The research revealed that the pandemic has brought cybersecurity to a critical inflection point. The number of material breaches respondents suffered rose 20.5% from 2020 to 2021, and cybersecurity budgets as a percentage of firms’ total revenue jumped 51%, from 0.53% to 0.80%.

During that time, cybersecurity became a strategic business imperative, requiring CEOs and their management teams to work together to meet the higher expectations of regulators, shareholders and the board.

In addition, the role of the chief information security officer (CISO) expanded, with many taking on responsibility for data security (49%), customer and insider fraud (44%), supply chain management (34%), enterprise and geopolitical risk management (30%), and digital transformation and business strategy (29%).

Yet 29% of CEOs and CISOs and 40% of chief security officers admit their organisations are unprepared for a rapidly changing threat landscape.

The reasons cited include the complexity of supply chains (44%), the fast pace of digital innovation (41%), inadequate cybersecurity budgets and lack of executive support (both 28%), convergence of digital and physical assets (25%), and shortage of talent (24%).

The highest percentages of unprepared organisations were in critical infrastructure industries: healthcare (35%), the public sector (34%), telecoms (31%), and aerospace and defence (31%).

Over the next two years, security executives expect an increase in attacks from social engineering and ransomware as nation-states and cybercriminals become more prolific, according to the report.

Executives anticipate that these attacks will target weak spots primarily caused by software misconfigurations (49%), human error (40%), poor maintenance (40%) and unknown assets (30%).

As part of ThoughtLab’s evidence-based research, its economists…

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