Cybersecurity has always been under a matter of great concern for organizations especially those who take in and process tons and tons of data. Recently, as per a report, it has been found that enhancing the cybersecurity team of an organization can prove beneficial for the supply chain risk management. Let’s dig in the details and explore why there has been an increment in the cybersecurity budgets of various organizations. 

Organizations and cybersecurity

Every organization is worried about more cyber threats. To garner a consensus on this, a survey was done by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The results of the survey were published in a comprehensive PwC report. About 50% of Indian enterprises have stated in this report that they have fully mitigated their cybersecurity risks exposure in several areas. Another 83% of business executives who took part in this survey said that their organization’s cybersecurity team has improved supply chain risk management. As per this report, Indian respondents fear three things the most - a catastrophic cyberattack, the Covid-19 health crisis, and a new geopolitical conflict.

A whopping 89 percent of Indian business executives say their organizations' cybersecurity team detected a significant cyber threat to business and prevented it from affecting their operations, as against 70 percent globally. The survey captured the views of senior executives on the challenges and opportunities to improve and transform cybersecurity within their organizations in the next 12-18 months. It included 3,522 respondents across 65 countries and revealed that 103 executives from India participated in the Global Digital Trust Insights survey.

According to the survey, organizations across the globe worry about more threats and cyber events in 2023 -- 65 percent of business executives polled felt cybercriminals will significantly affect their organizations in 2023 compared to 2022. 

In India, cloud-based pathways (59 percent) and the internet of things (58 percent) are the top areas of concern, followed by mobile devices and software supply chains (54 percent). Globally, mobile devices are considered the most unsecured (41 percent).

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How to mitigate cyber risks?

The report gives us some inside statistics. Enabling remote and hybrid work 57% of the respondents said the cyber risk is fully mitigated, 61% of the respondents focused on accelerated cloud adoption, 67% of respondents said increased IoT and 56% of respondents focused on back-to-office operations. 65% of respondents feel that cybercriminals will significantly affect their organizations in 2023 as compared to 2022. As aforementioned, 89% of Indian respondents said their organization’s cybersecurity team detected a significant cyber threat to business and prevented it from affecting their operations, as against 70% globally.

Moreover, the majority of organizations are continuing to increase their cyber budgets substantially from 2022 to 2023 respectively. As a result, a large number of organizations are also planning to increase their cyber focus, including cyber technology solutions (39%), focus on strategy and coordination with engineering/operations (37%) and upskilling and hiring of cyber talent (36%).

A sneak-peak into the impact of data breaches

Data breaches have impacted one in four companies in the last three years. Amid an increase in cyber issues, over 80% of Indian executives predict an increase in cybersecurity budgets in 2023. Data breaches and cybersecurity attacks have become quite common, with companies reporting increased attacks compared to earlier years. This PwC survey revealed that one in four companies, globally, was a victim of a data breach in the past three years. The data breaches reportedly cost companies anywhere between $1-20 million. According to PwC’s annual Global Digital Trust Insights India edition report, India has fared better than its global counterparts in mitigating cybersecurity risks. Globally, less than 40% of the executives said they have fully mitigated cybersecurity risk in critical areas. In India, more than half the respondents are confident that they have successfully mitigated the risks caused due to measures taken since 2020, including enabling remote and hybrid work, cloud adoption, digitization of supply chains, and back-office operations. So, what are organizations aiming to do? Organizations to increase cybersecurity budgets in 2023. 

“The digitalization of business demands that corporates and boards invest in becoming more cyber resilient. This needs to be across the spectrum – in technology, people, processes, and engineering capabilities,” said Sivarama Krishnan, partner, and APAC cybersecurity leader, PWC.

“Our survey clearly reveals that organizations that have made cybersecurity a strategic priority have witnessed less disruption to the business. Cyber resilience is not only key to the survival of businesses but also a key driver of public trust,” Krishnan added.

Increased threats

Summing it up

The PwC survey has revealed that 89% of Indian business executives have claimed that their organization’s cybersecurity team detected and prevented significant cyber threats to their business. In India, cloud-based pathways (59%) and the internet of things (58%) are the top areas of concern, followed by mobile devices and software supply chains (54%), according to the report. This is bound to unleash a plethora of career opportunities in the field of cybersecurity.