69 per cent of organisations think that the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to an increase in their cyber budgets, according to new research by NCC Group in partnership with strategic insight agency, Opinium.
Based on a poll of 500 cybersecurity decision-makers, the report says that cyber attacks have increased in all areas in the past 12 months, with nearly half (48 per cent) of organisations reporting a rise in phishing and malware attacks, 41 per cent an increase in impersonation attacks and 40 per cent a rise in fraud attacks.
Respondents named the post-COVID-19 threat landscape as their biggest challenge, with only 38 per cent believing that their organisation is ‘very resilient’.
However, respondents predicted that investment in cyber security would represent a quarter of their overall IT spend this year. Strategic planning and creation of future roadmaps for cyber security policies was named as the type of support that respondents would gain the most benefit from in the next 6-12 months, followed by ongoing, managed support and assessment of current security postures.
When asked about the changes they anticipate making to their organisation as a result of the pandemic, respondents named continuing with an increase in remote working, increasing use of the cloud and increasing focus on digital transformation as their top three.
“It’s encouraging that organisations are taking on new initiatives and increasing cyber budgets, but it’s crucial that they invest wisely,” commented Ian Thomas, Managing Director at NCC Group.
“By assessing their current security posture, securing digital transformation projects and ensuring they can monitor, detect and respond to threats quickly, organisations can increase their resilience against cyber threats now and in the future.”