A report reveals that the average time to detect and solve an ‘online’ security breach during 2021 was 287 days, compared to 280 in 2020.
A report prepared by Citi GPS, which collects information from different firms, reveals that cyberattacks have skyrocketed, both in number and in complexity, and cost, due to the geopolitical situation, which includes the war in Ukraine.
As companies go digital, their exposure to cyber threats grows. Added to this, the management of these risks is complex due to the investment “in equipment, software, and talent” that it entails.
The study points out that the average time to detect and resolve an online security breach during 2021 was 287 days, compared to 280 days in 2020 or 278 days in 2019, according to IBM data. This figure has been increasing since 2017, when the lowest figure in the last six years was recorded, 257 days.
Likewise, the average cost of cyberattacks has also skyrocketed in recent years to reach $4.2 million in 2021, 10% more than in 2020, when it reached $3.8 million, and well above the $3.62 million registered in 2017.
Affected Sectors
Regarding the sectors mainly affected by these cybersecurity breaches, the report reveals that, traditionally, the most exposed industries were those that handled valuable information, especially financial information. However, this has changed drastically as a result of digitization, and, today, “all companies in all sectors” are prone to attack.
The document also concludes that, until 2010, concern about cyberattacks came mainly from companies based in the United States. However, in recent years, this distribution has changed and, currently, cybersecurity has become a relevant topic for firms around the world.
Demand for Talent Increases
In this context, as virtual threats and the costs derived from them increase, companies are looking to increase their investment in cybersecurity personnel as part of their risk management strategy.
The report points out that, between 2015 and 2021, job offers related to this field quadrupled and the search for profiles with these types of skills is growing all over the world.
The authors of the study specify that there are four specific sectors that account for 80% of the job offers that are published (according to data from 2021), including those related to technical services (32%), followed by financial services. and insurance (18%), manufacturers (16%), and those that have to do with the information (14%).
Regarding talent, the report reveals that the average cybersecurity professional has around five and a half years of experience, indicating that “the workforce for these positions is relatively young” compared to other positions in the technological industry. In fact, only 11% have more than 20 years of experience, while in the IT sector this percentage increases to 21%.
The experts point out that one of the implications derived from these data is that there are fewer professionals who can assume high-level roles that require extensive experience, which, added to the shortage of profiles facing the industry, highlights the importance of insisting on employee retention.
By Audy Castaneda
