Bitdefender Reports On US CIOsWho Experienced Cyber Attacks

BD Software Distribution (BD Software), the Country Partner for Bitdefender in India, has announced intriguing results of Bitdefender Survey of 250 IT decision makers in the United States.

The study on large US companies with more than 1,000 workstations reaffirms the rising pressure of rising cyber breaches on CIOs. The survey reveals that some 34% of companies were breached in the past 12 months, while 74% of IT decision makers don’t know how their company was breached.

At the same time, a third of CIOs surveyed said their job has become more important in the company’s hierarchy than before while another third agreed their job has been completely transformed in recent years.

The survey results once again confirmed that cyber security no longer remains the area of concern for IT professionals but has reached the level of board members with CEOs acknowledging the importance of CIOs in decision-making strategies along with other top C-level managers.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Zakir Hussain Rangwala, Director of BD Soft, said: “Cybercrime has gone truly global, and they key trends that we can clearly see emerging form this survey would apply to many of the counties, and definitely to India with its robust IT market and fast-growing banking, technology and other sectors.”

“In December last year our security experts have predicted more advanced, more complicated and possibly more devastating security breaches may challenge Indian organizations, both in private and government sectors considering country’s rapid growth coupled with its unprecedented move towards digitizing all spheres of life and economy”, Zakir Hussain Rangwala added. “Such surveys as Bitdefender’s are important for both organizations and security providers to understand the latest trends in CIO decision-making and analyze the kind of policies that organizations are likely to adopt for protecting themselves from breaches, as well as how much companies are ready to spend on IT security.”

Here are the KEY findings of Bitdefender’s survey:

• A third of CIOs say their job is more important in the company’s hierarchy. Another third even agree their job has been completely transformed in recent years.

• Nine in 10 IT decision makers perceive IT security as a top priority for their companies. However, only two-thirds agree their IT security budget is sufficient. Cloud security spending surpassed the amount spent on physical security (from the total IT budget).

• Cloud security spending increased for 48% of the companies in the past year, while the IT security budget for other security activities remained the same.

• Only 64% of cyber-attacks can be stopped, detected or prevented with the current resources.

• Some 34% of companies were breached in the past 12 months, while 74% of IT decision makers don’t know how the company was breached.

• Two-thirds of companies would pay an average of $124k to avoid public shaming scandals after a breach. Some 14% would pay more than $500k

The detailed Whitepaper available at Bitdefender’s website.