Most businesses plan Cybersecurity budget boost in 2020

A recent survey by FireEye found that the majority of businesses are planning to increase the amount they are spending on their cybersecurity in 2020.The increase is driven by the fact that more than half of those questioned in the survey said they did not think they were ready to deal with a cyberattack or data breach.

As we move towards the end of the year and into 2020, thoughts turn to the year ahead. In the business world, many are considering the growing impact that tech of all kinds is having on the day-to-day running of their operation and the cybersecurity threats that come as part and parcel of these seismic changes.

Speaking to 800 senior executives in businesses across the globe about these issues, security firm FireEye found that, while more than half feel unprepared for a cyberattack, nearly a third have not updated or tested their defence plans for more than a year.

Spending is on the up

In order to address these concerns and shortfalls, most business executives said they will increase their 2019 cybersecurity spending by between 1 and 9 per cent. However, some 30 per cent of UK businesses said they plan to increase their cybersecurity spend by more than 10 per cent.

Interestingly, businesses in some Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, were less concerned, with around a quarter planning to keep their spend the same as their 2019 levels.

Transitioning to the cloud

Among the US-based executives questioned in the survey, some 44 per cent said they had moved some of their operations to the cloud and that they were upping their cybersecurity monitoring as a result. Despite feeling some level of caution, the US is leading the way on cloud migration, with 37 per cent having completely moved to the cloud. 

Executives in other markets were far more concerned about the cybersecurity threats apparently posed by cloud migration, in more protectionist countries, like Germany and Japan. This cautious approach to cloud migration could see businesses in these countries being left behind in terms of global competitiveness, as the cloud affords businesses greater levels of efficiency and growth potential.

Training is key – and having the right software

Perhaps wisely, France says its priority when beating cybercrime is training staff to detect and protect systems and networks. Across the globe, an average of 11 per cent of organisations don’t have a cybersecurity staff training scheme in place, while in France this number falls to just 1 per cent.

However, generally, some 16 per cent of respondents from all over the globe said that investing in vulnerability management and security software is a priority when boosting cybersecurity. 

Having the right protection in place in terms of software, will have the biggest impact on your organisation’s ability to protect itself from cybercrime. Installing a system, such as our Unified Threat Management system will help your business to detect threats and protect vital networks and data from cyberattack well into 2020 and beyond.

(Image: Freepik.com)