Careless staff expose firms to cyberattacks, says EY report

Firms, however, are willing to spend more on cybersecurity

Organisations in India consider careless or unaware employees as the biggest vulnerability that exposes the firms to cyberattacks, according to EY’s ‘Global Information Security Survey 2018-19 — India edition.’

A maximum of about 32% respondents cited careless or unaware employees as their topmost vulnerability with the most increased risk exposure over the last 12 months. Other vulnerabilities cited include outdated security controls (21%), unauthorised access (19%), related to cloud computing use (8%), related to smartphones/tablets (8%) and related to social media (8%) and related to Internet of Things (4%).

The report added that 87% of the organisations in the technology sector, and 70% of the organisations in the telecom sector regard careless employees as the most likely source of attack.

The survey is based on responses from 230 respondents from across sectors, including retail, public sector, banking, health and automotive, between April-July 2018.

Burgess Cooper, partner—cybersecurity, EY India, said, “In comparison to the previous years, organisations are planning to spend more on cybersecurity…With the rise in digital movement and subsequent exponential increase in data generation, there is a growing realisation that security is also about maintaining the continuity of business operations — and not restricted to only security of data and privacy. About 70% of Indian organisations said that they plan to increase their cybersecurity budgets, however only 19% have sufficient budget to provide the levels of resilience required, the survey said. “…56% of the organisations consider cybersecurity as an integral part of their strategy and plans, skills shortage has emerged as a key overarching problem,” it said.

Citing multiple sources, the report said 6.95 lakh cyberattacks were identified in India between January-June 2018 and the country ranked third (after the U.S. and China) as the most vulnerable nation in terms of risk of cyberthreats in 2017.The average cost of a data breach in 2017 was estimated to be about $1.7 million, the report added.