Cloudflare released a new study focused on cybersecurity in Asia Pacific. The report, called “Navigating the New Security Landscape: Asia Pacific Cybersecurity Readiness Survey,” shares the latest data on cybersecurity preparedness in the region, revealing how organisations are coping with ransomware, data breaches, and additional challenges brought about by artificial intelligence (AI).
The survey found that 93% of respondents in India are concerned about AI increasing the sophistication and severity of data breaches. Additionally, 55% of respondents said their organisation experienced data branches in the past 12 months, with 52% indicating they suffered from 11 or more data breaches. The industries that experienced the most data breaches were Healthcare (69%), Transportation (67%), and Business and Professional Services (62%). Threat actors most frequently target customer data (37%), user access credentials (15%), and financial data (14%).
Ransomware remains a major concern for India. The study reveals that 84% of organizations that experienced ransomware attacks in the last two years said they paid the ransom, despite 89% of these organisations issuing public pledges against doing so. Overall, compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) or Virtual Private Network (VPN) servers (55%) proved to be the most common means of entry by threat actors.
“In today’s landscape, cyberattacks hit every level of an organization, putting security leaders under intense pressure and scrutiny. With limited resources and increasingly complex IT environments, the challenges are growing. To stay ahead of evolving threats, leaders must constantly reassess their resources, tools, and strategies to protect their organizations effectively,” said Anjali Joneja Amar, Vice President, India and SAARC at Cloudflare.
“Regulation” and “compliance” also emerged as important themes in this year’s study. The survey shows that 52% of respondents said they spend more than 5% of their IT budget to address regulatory and compliance requirements. In addition, 59% of respondents reported spending more than 10% of their work week keeping pace with industry regulatory requirements and certifications. However, this investment in regulation and compliance has had a positive impact on businesses, such as improving the integrity of the organisation’s technology and data (63%), improving the organisation’s baseline privacy and/or security levels (61%), and improving the organisation’s reputation and brand (59%).
Defending against cyberattacks continues to be a top priority, with 80% of respondents revealing that more than 10% of their organisation’s IT budget was spent on cybersecurity.