A recent survey by Radware has confirmed there has been a significant increase in the cost of a cyberattack in 2019. The average cost of remediating a cyberattack is now $4.6 million which is a 53% increase from 2018 when the survey was last conducted.
Further, the number of companies that are now spending more than $10 million remediating cyberattacks has increased from 7% in 2018 to 13% in 2019 – An increase of more than 85%.
The survey was conducted on 263 executives at senior VP level or higher at companies that had generated more than $250 million in revenue. 94% of respondents were C-level corporate leaders. Three fifths of companies had between 1,000 and 9,999 employees. (Average: 5,378 employees).
The survey revealed cybersecurity is now a shared responsibility across the C-Suite. 72% of respondents said cybersecurity was now a recurring agenda item in every board meeting.
When asked about the impact of a security breach on the company, the biggest risks were loss of customers (45%) and loss of brand reputation (44%). These are very real concerns. Surveyed companies experienced an average customer churn rate of 30% following a data breach and the average amount required to win back a customer was estimated to be close to $100,000.
Customers are taking a much greater interest in security and want to know what steps companies have taken to secure their products and services. Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT expense. 75% of executives said security is now a key component of their marketing strategy. 50% of surveyed firms said they now offer dedicated security products and services to their customers, 41% offer security features as add-ons, and 7% said they are considering building security services into their products.
“Security issues now influence brand reputation, brand trust and consumer trust, which forces organizations to make a fundamental shift in thinking about the role of security in customer experience, marketing and business operations,” said Radware’s Chief Marketing Officer, Anna Convery-Pelletier.
While cybersecurity is now a board issue and investment in security has increased, most companies are still not well protected against cyberattacks.
70% of senior executives in North America and Europe said they had experienced a major cyberattack in the past 12 months and 75% of respondents in EMEA said they thought their networks were susceptible to cyberattacks. 73% of executives said they had experienced unauthorized access to public cloud assets. This suggests that there is still a long way to go to improve security at most businesses.
The findings of the survey are detailed in the Radware report: 2019 C-Suite Perspectives: From Defense to Offense, Executives Turn Information Security into a Competitive Advantage.