Globally, the average cybersecurity maturity rating stands at just 1.45 out of five – a score determined by an organisation’s holistic approach to cybersecurity from a process, metrics and strategic perspective
This comes during a time when security vulnerabilities have also surged to a record high (up 12.5 per cent from 2017), according to Dimension Data’s Executive Guide to NTT Security’s 2019 Global Threat Intelligence Report concerning the cybersecurity maturity of organisations across a number of markets and sectors.
The finance (1.71) and technology (1.66) sectors boast the highest maturity ratings and are continuing to ramp up their security posture, most likely driven by their unenviable positions as the most commonly targeted industries, each accounting for 17 per cent of all attacks recorded in 2018.
Scouring trillions of logs and billions of attacks, research also revealed the most common types of attacks, with web attacks the most prevalent threat, doubling in frequency since 2017 and accounting for 32 per cent of all attacks detected last year.
Reconnaissance (16 per cent) was the next most common hostile activity, closely followed by service-specific attacks (13 per cent) and brute-force attacks (12 per cent).
Mark Thomas, vice-president of cybersecurity at Dimension Data, said, “There’s clearly work to be done across all sectors in order to establish more robust security postures. However, it’s reassuring to see many C-suite leaders recognising the importance of making more strategic investments to improve their cybersecurity defences.”
“There have been some exciting developments in the predictive threat intelligence space, with new levels of collaboration and buy-in across the cybersecurity value chain. What’s more, the most-targeted industries are also the most likely to seek assistance to evolve their strategies and build their security programmes. This bodes well for companies looking to reach their desired cyber maturity state,” he added.
