Boards focus on security awareness post WannaCry
Awareness of cybersecurity at board level is growing as last year's WannaCry attack has highlighted the need to guard against attacks.
The research, conducted by Vanson Bourne, as part of an international survey of 500 businesses in the UK, France, Germany and the USA, was commissioned by endpoint protection specialist SentinelOne.
Half of all respondents say that there is more visibility of attacks at board level, as reported bottom line losses by companies like Maersk have highlighted the economic cost of ransomware. The biggest board level reaction to ransomware has been on user education, with 54 percent of respondents saying that there is now more likelihood of them implementing employee training and awareness programs. Over two in five, 43 percent, of respondents report that there is now more company budget being allocated to security.
Migo Kedem, director of product management at SentinelOne says, "Clearly the impact of last year's ransomware attacks has been far reaching. However, on a positive note, the publicity which these attacks garnered has made Board members sit up and take notice of the potential impact to their organization. It's also encouraging to see that this is translating into positive action, such as user awareness training."
The research also reveals respondents are seeing ransomware attacks becoming increasingly pernicious. More than a third report a faster speed (39 percent) and a greater scale of infection (38 percent).
Despite last year's wave of attacks, there is evidence that organizations are feeling optimistic about the fight back against ransomware, with 79 percent of respondents reporting that they are getting better at fighting ransomware. 75 percent also agree that behavior-based analytics is the only way to stop more sophisticated ransomware attacks.
62 percent would like to see more resources for law enforcement agencies to track down cyber criminals and to protect organizations and citizens against ransomware attacks. A further 57 percent feel that laws need to catch up and that tougher sentences should be imposed on criminals.
You can read more about the findings on the SentinelOne blog.
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