intelligent

Jacques de La Rivière , CEO , Gatewatcher

The COVID backdrop to a new digital medium business landscape

The impact of the COVID lockdowns has been to change permanently working patterns across businesses of all sizes . But for medium-sized businesses , which have been encouraged to digitise in order to remain efficient and competitive , as well as to be attractive as employers , the widespread use of teleworking has opened up substantial weaknesses in cybersecurity .

The 2022 Cyber Security Breaches Survey from the UK government reflected this impact as 94 % of medium / large firms reported phishing attacks , against an 83 % overall rate of incidence and a 63 % rate of impersonation attacks , versus 27 % overall . Both vectors of attack have been made easier to exploit with increased teleworking and the associated technology .

Elsewhere , there are incidences of increased uses of specific technologies within medium businesses that increased cyberthreat exposure . Medium businesses are more likely than the business average to have online payment capabilities and 66 % of medium firms report using network-connected / Smart devices compared to an average of 48 %, whilst 25 % of medium businesses report running older versions of operating systems compared to an average of just 16 %.

Elsewhere , Gartner has identified that mediumsized businesses rarely have the dedicated security teams or security tools of larger enterprises and consequently , are the most targeted segment for ransomware attacks , and the average 23 days of downtime caused by ransomware could easily be enough to crash a medium-sized business in the current economic climate .

Frustration and fatigue ?

This is not to suggest medium-sized businesses are complacent in the face of cyberthreats . Investment in threat intelligence , cyberthreat audits , penetration testing , monitoring and staff training are all more common in medium and large businesses .

But there is an understandable frustration that these services and options may not accurately reflect their needs . And added to this frustration may be a sense of fatigue – in 2021 three-quarters ( 75 %) of medium-sized business had cybersecurity policies . By 2022 this fell nine percentage points to 66 %.

The tension within ?

Modern medium-sized businesses continue to face uncertainty brought about by persistent inflation , talent challenges and the threat of recession . These conditions determine technology strategies and spending priorities .

GARTNER HAS IDENTIFIED THAT MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES RARELY HAVE THE DEDICATED SECURITY TEAMS OR SECURITY TOOLS OF LARGER ENTERPRISES AND CONSEQUENTLY , ARE THE MOST TARGETED SEGMENT FOR RANSOMWARE ATTACKS .