A survey of more than 5,400 businesses in the US, UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands revealed that 61 percent of these companies reported having been the victim of a cyberattack in the past twelve months.
Only 10 percent of companies surveyed had a more than adequate rating when it comes to cybersecurity. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters (74%) of companies were considered unprepared to deal with a cyber attack.
Cybercrime has increased significantly in recent times, with two major data breaches occurring at British Airways and Dixons Carphone (Dixons Retail).
While larger companies are almost certainly the ones most frequently targeted, the percentage of small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees) reporting an attack incident exceeds 33-47%.
It has been shown that companies have increased their spending on cybersecurity in the last 12 months by 24 percent, to $1.45 million (£1.1 million), while the amount covered by insurance for attacks has increased further.
The typical cost of these attacks to companies also rose from $229,000 (£176,000) in the last 12 months to $369,000 ($283,000).
Terry Ray, senior vice president of cybersecurity firm Imperva, said: “The specter of cyberattack has been around since information went digital, but it seems the importance of cybersecurity has increased recently. What’s driving this change? Knowledge is at the center of the digital environment right now. More information is in more locations, accessible through more applications, accessible by more people, and cybercriminals have more locations to attack.”
“Key to digital transformation is that businesses are generating more information than ever before. All of this information – stored in an ever-changing array of locations and repositories – simply offers additional alternatives for cybercrime.”
Earlier this month, the UK ranked first as the nation most committed to cybersecurity in the Worldwide Telecommunications Union's annual "International Cybersecurity Index.".
