There’s good news and bad news to be found in EMC’s recent “Global Data Protection Index 2016” report: Overall incidents of traditional data loss and disruption are actually down in the past two years. But businesses are still unprepared for emerging threats.
Surveying IT decision-makers at approximately 2,200 organizations across 18 countries, EMC’s study found that 36% of organizations reported they’ve lost data in the last year as the result of a security breach, at an average cost of more than $914,000. EMC’s study found that more than more than half of businesses fail to protect data in the cloud, even with more than 80% saying they rely on SaaS-based business applications.
“Our customers are facing a rapidly evolving data protection landscape on a number of fronts, whether it’s to protect modern cloud computing environments or to shield against devastating cyber attacks,” David Goulden, CEO’s of EMC’s Information Infrastructure unit, said in a statement. “Our research shows that many businesses are unaware of the potential impact and are failing to plan for them, which is a threat in itself.”
EMC’s survey found that 23% of businesses had experienced data loss or an external security breach in the last year. And more than 70% of organizations surveyed said they were not confidant they could fully recover their systems or data, in the event of data loss, or even if their systems were down unexpectedly.
Only one in 10 companies surveyed could be considered “ahead of the curve” in terms of cyber security preparedness, according to the survey, and much of that is due to a lack of looking at emerging threats, the report found.
“Ransomware is dramatically raising the stakes when it comes to cyber security,” said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. “We’re moving from theft, which is costly, to potential catastrophe. There are forces at play now that aren’t satisfied with just stealing your money, they want to destroy your entity. You can either start taking these threats seriously, or start looking for a hole to crawl into. Ignorance is no longer bliss.”
To access the full report, click here.