More than half of organizations faced public scrutiny after a security breach. Operations and finance systems were the most affected, followed by brand reputation and customer retention. Furthermore, for organizations that experienced an attack, the effect was substantial:
- 22% of breached organizations lost customers — 40% of them lost more than 20% of their customer base.
- 29% lost revenue, with 38% of that group losing more than 20% of revenue.
- 23% of breached organizations lost business opportunities, with 42% of them losing more than 20%
The good news is that 90% of these organizations are improving threat defence technologies and processes after attacks by separating IT and security functions (38%), increasing security awareness training for employees (38%), and implementing risk mitigation techniques (37%).
The Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report (ACR) surveyed nearly 3,000 chief security officers (CSOs) and security operations leaders from 13 countries in the Security Capabilities Benchmark Study, part of the Cisco ACR. Security departments are increasingly complex environments with 65% of organizations using from six to more than 50 security products, increasing the potential for security effectiveness gaps.
To exploit these gaps, ACR data shows hackers using adware and email spam, the latter at levels not seen since 2010, as attack vectors. Spam accounts for nearly two-thirds (65%) of email with eight to 10% cited as malicious. Global spam volume is rising, often spread by large and thriving botnets.
In 2007, the ACR reported web and business applications were targets, often via social engineering, or user-introduced infractions. In 2017, hackers attack cloud-based applications, and spam has escalated.
Cybersecurity has changed drastically since the inaugural Cisco Annual Security Report in 2007. While technology has helped attacks become more damaging and defenses become more sophisticated, the foundation of security remains as important as ever.
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