Only 24 percent companies have a “mature” level of readiness when it comes to combating modern cybersecurity risks, according to the 'CISCO Cybersecurity Readiness Index: Resilience in a Hybrid World' report.

The index has been developed in the backdrop of the hybrid, post-COVID world, where it is necessary to secure users and data wherever work gets done.

"Organisations have 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 amount of data. This presents new and unique cybersecurity challenges for companies," CISCO said in a statement.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Daisy Chittilapilly, the President of Cisco India & SAARC, emphasized the need for companies to prioritize cybersecurity measures.

Chittilapilly highlighted that according to the study, a staggering 80 percent of Indian companies faced a security breach in the last two years. These breaches have not only resulted in data loss but also significant financial loss. The cost of returning to normalcy after a breach is estimated to be around $1 million for over 50 percent of the affected companies.

The report covers five core pillars that are the baseline of the defences when it comes to combating cybersecurity — network, identity, application workloads, data. It also encompasses 19 solutions within the pillars.

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As many as 6,700 cybersecurity leaders from the private sector were surveyed across 27 markets to indicate which of the solutions were deployed by them and when. Based on this, the companies were classified into four stages based on their readiness — bigger, formative, progressive and mature.

"India scored high in the global chart in terms of maturity (24%), performing above the global average of 15 percent on cybersecurity readiness. About 38% of companies in India fall into the Beginner or Formative stages. While organizations in India are faring better than the global average, the number is still very low, given the risks," the statement said.

The report also stated that 90 percent of the organisations in the country are anticipating cybersecurity incidents disrupting their business in the next 12-24 months. And 95 percent of the organisations are planning to increase the outlay over the next 12 months to combat cybersecurity risks.

Meanwhile, 80 percent of the firms reported a cybersecurity incident in the last 12 months.

The report highlighted that 53 percent of the affected organisations spent at least $500,000 to help the network return to normal operations.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Mar 21, 2023 6:16 PM IST