EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In the Asia Pacific region, 68% of businesses scattered across six Asian markets have experienced cyber breaches. This represents a significant increase over the 32% figure reported for the same region in 2019. Among these enterprises, roughly 60% admitted that remediation efforts can consume a full week or more.
Cyber security professionals state that budget and skills represent serious obstacles. A given organization’s leaders may not fully understand the business’s cyber security needs, making the acquisition of financial or human resources a challenge.
Of the organizations that reported a breach:
- 67% acknowledged difficulty in keeping abreast of the cyber security landscape
- 59% reported that their cyber security budgets are insufficient
- 55% stated that they experienced substantial data loss via a breach
- 17% thwarted as many as 200 cyber threats per month
Top threats, APAC
Ransomware, malware and phishing have emerged as top threats. Affected organizations also reported weak supply chain security. Many expect that this relatively nascent issue will evolve into a top risk by 2023.
Should industries build up local capabilities to increase supply chain resiliency? Industries and organizations alike seek to add additional layers of supply chain security in order to ensure sustainable business growth.
Pandemic transformations
The pandemic has represented a prominent accelerant for digital transformations and cyber security upgrades. In Singapore, 75% of organizations attribute the acquisition of new tools to pandemic-related workforce shifts.
Nonetheless, stakeholders and business leaders frequently continue to perceive cyber attacks as overblown threats. “It is confounding that this attitude prevails even when the end of 2020 showed us just how bad a global supply-chain attack could be,” says security engineer Aaron Bugal.
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