97 PCT CIOS DISTRESSED BY CYBERSECURITY THREAT - OPENGEAR SURVEY

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- A staggering 97 per cent of United States (US)-based chief information officers (CIOs) surveyed expressed serious concerns about at least one cybersecurity threat to their organisation.

This is according to a new comprehensive research released by Opengear, a Digi International company and provider of secure and Smart Out of Band management solutions.

“The skills shortage and insufficient investment in networks are two factors that have combined to encourage cybercriminals to breach businesses. Smart Out of Band solutions enable organisations to manage their networks at all times from local and remote sites, even during an outage.

“Network engineers can make smarter, real-time decisions to achieve consistent network resilience and unparalleled visibility, with security and encryption features ensuring that management policies remain continually enforced,” said Opengear President, Gary Marks in a statement.

The primary cybersecurity concerns highlighted in the research included malware (42 per cent), spam and phishing (34 per cent), social engineering (31 per cent), and insider threats (30 per cent). Remarkably, malware also emerged as a significant threat for 42 per cent of the surveyed network engineers.

While only 23 per cent of US CIOs reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks as a threat, 38 per cent of network engineers reported a higher level of concern for this specific type of attack, most likely due to their close proximity to the network.

To add to these concerns, US engineers said that insufficient investments are enhancing the risk of cyberattacks and/or downtime (59 per cent).

Continued technology investment is essential to enable engineers to safeguard networks during cyberattacks and the latest research further highlights a concerning trend, indicating that 27 per cent of US network engineers are actively contemplating leaving their current roles due to inadequate funding, an alarming contrast to the global average of 21 per cent.

The survey encompassed responses from 502 CIOs and 510 network engineers in the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia.

-- BERNAMA