Just 15 percent of organizations globally have the ‘Mature’ level of readiness needed to be resilient against today’s modern cybersecurity risks, according to Cisco’s first-ever Cybersecurity Readiness Index.

More than half (55 percent) of companies globally fall into the Beginner (eight percent) or Formative (47 percent) stages, meaning they are performing below average on cybersecurity readiness.

Of the 6,700 cybersecurity leaders around the world surveyed, 82 percent say they expect a cybersecurity incident to disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months. 60 percent say they have had a cybersecurity incident in the last 12 months and 41 percent of those affected say it cost them at least US$500,000.

Enterprises face new challenges having moved from an operating model that was largely static — where people operated from single devices from one location, connecting to a static network — to a hybrid world in which they increasingly operate from multiple devices in multiple locations, connect to multiple networks, access applications in the cloud and on the go, and generate enormous amounts of data.

“The move to a hybrid world has fundamentally changed the landscape for companies and created even greater cybersecurity complexity. Organizations must stop approaching defense with a mix of point tools and instead, consider integrated platforms to achieve security resilience while reducing complexity,” says Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and general manager of security and collaboration at Cisco. “Only then will businesses be able to close the cybersecurity readiness gap.”

Of the companies that are ranked Mature, 53 percent say they are ‘Very Confident’ in their ability to tackle the risks. On the other hand, only 30 percent of companies in the Beginner stage, and 34 percent in the Formative stage feel the same.

While 86 percent of respondents plan to increase their security budgets by at least 10 percent over the next 12 months, the report stresses the need to establish a baseline, so organizations can build on their strengths and prioritize the areas where they need more maturity and improved resilience.

You can get the full report from the Cisco site.

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