Deloitte: Report warns businesses not to be overconfident with cyber security

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

Cyber security experts at Deloitte, the business advisory firm, are warning that when it comes to cyber attacks it is not a question of ‘if’, but a question of ‘when’, as a new study shows 88% of companies in Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) don’t think they are vulnerable to an external cyber threat.

In Deloitte’s sixth annual Global TMT Security Study 68% of companies said they understood their cyber risks and 62% had a programme in place to sufficiently address them. Yet in the past year, over half (59%) said they had knowingly experienced a security incident. With this many successful attacks, companies should treat breaches as inevitable and invest significant time and effort in detection and response planning, so that they can bounce back quickly when it does happen. Despite this importance, only half of companies have this planning in place.

A major concern for TMT companies was the security of the businesses they work with.  In today’s hyper-connected world organisations are more reliant than ever on third parties. Sensitive information can often be found in the systems of businesses that support the supply chain and other business operations. Seventy four per cent of respondents said they were worried about these businesses being breached, so it is vitally important that organisations work with their third parties to understand and improve their security practices, rather than rely on contractual agreements on security.