This week IBM Security released its latest report focusing on the impact that the pandemic has had on businesses across the country. One of the most concerning discoveries was the fact that data breaches are now costing local organisations more than ever.
On average, a data breach costs an SA business R46 million, which is the highest it has been in the six years that IBM Security has been looking at such statistics.
“Based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by organisations in South Africa, the study suggests that security incidents became more costly and harder to contain due to drastic operational shifts during the pandemic, with costs rising 15% for South African compared to the prior year,” the report explains.
Big time rush
Part of the reason for the rise is the way in which businesses were forced to react to the pandemic and adopt a work from home policy. This rush opened up several vulnerabilities, and while businesses were able to keep the lights on, vulnerabilities presented as a result could do lasting damage down the line.
“Businesses were forced to quickly adapt their technology approaches last year, with many companies encouraging or requiring employees to work from home, and 60% of organizations moving further into cloud-based activities during the pandemic. The new findings released today suggest that security may have lagged behind these rapid IT changes, hindering organisations’ ability to respond to data breaches,” the report highlights.
Looking at some of the other findings from the report, which leveraged data from breaches experienced by over 500 organisations worldwide between May 2020 and March 2021, the pandemic has also seen the time it takes to identify and respond to breaches rise to its highest point in six years.
To that end, in South Africa, it took 184 to detect and 53 to contain on average. The study found too that companies that contained a breach in under 200 days were revealed to save almost R7 million, while it cost organisations R2 300 per lost or stolen record on average. In terms of industry most affected by breaches, it was the financial, industrial and services sectors that were most expensive, costing R1 548 per stolen record.
Zero trust approach
“Organisations in South Africa are faced with a growing remote workforce which results in sensitive data moving across less controlled environments making it more vulnerable to a data breach,” notes Sheldon Hand, Data, AI, Automation and Security Business Unit leader for IBM Southern Africa of the data.
“This increases the need to safeguard sensitive data at rest and in transit. Organisations need to double down on protecting their most valuable data – whether its customer, employee and company information – and ensure they have advanced security processes, like automation and formal incident response teams, in place,” he adds.
Moving forward, with remote working or hybrid models showing no signs of leaving anytime soon as the pandemic rages on globally, investment in technology to create zero trust environments, as well as rapid response teams, will be on the rise.
“Companies with an incident response team that also tested their incident response plan managed to save R3 million in the case of a data brach, while those that had put an incident response team in place, cut the average cost by R2.7 million,” the report points out.
To download the IBM Security report for yourself, head here.
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
