Just 4 per cent of companies in India have a “mature” level of readiness needed to manage cybersecurity risks and 3 per cent are so prepared worldwide, said a report.
As many as 37 per cent of companies in India are at the “progressive” stage, 52 per cent are “formative”, and 7 per cent are “beginners”, according to Cisco’s 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index.
The report comes at a time when companies are being targeted with a variety of techniques that range from phishing and ransomware to supply chain and social engineering attacks. While companies are building defences, they are slowed down by their own complex security systems that are dominated by multiple point solutions.
The problem is compounded in distributed working environments where data can be spread across services, devices, applications, and users. This lack of readiness is substantial despite almost three-quarters of companies (73 per cent) believing a cybersecurity incident will disrupt their business in the next 12-24 months. Despite this lack of readiness, 31 per cent of companies feel “very confident” in their ability to stay resilient amidst this evolving cybersecurity landscape.
“We cannot underestimate the threat posed by our own overconfidence,” said Jeetu Patel, executive vice-president and general manager of security and collaboration at Cisco. “Today’s organisations need to prioritise investments in integrated platforms and lean into AI (artificial intelligence) in order to operate at machine scale and finally tip the scales in the favour of defenders.”
As many as 88 per cent of respondents admitted that having multiple cybersecurity point solutions – a traditional approach – slowed down their ability to detect, respond and recover from incidents. This is worrying as 78 per cent of organisations said they have deployed 10 or more point solutions in their security stacks, while 38 per cent said they have 30 or more.
“In an era witnessing unprecedented proliferation of devices and rising AI-powered cyberattacks, it’s critical that organisations not only increase their investment in cybersecurity but also embrace an integrated platform approach to protect the five key pillars and take steps to reduce their security readiness gap. They must also ensure that AI is integrated into frontline defences as part of their overall cybersecurity strategy,” said Samir Kumar Mishra, director, security business, Cisco India and SAARC.
