The research – conducted by TechCentral and commissioned by Logicalis Ireland in association with IBM – involved more than 100 IT decision-makers in Ireland and found that during the pandemic, exposure to cyberthreats increased for more than three quarters of organisations (76%).
It also revealed that more than a quarter (28%) of Irish organisations experienced a cyberattack last year. Of those which were attacked, 40% were targeted by malware and 34% were targeted by phishing.
Furthermore, 29% of these organisations took about a week to recover from same. Some 27% took about a month, while recovery is ongoing for 24%.
On a more positive note, 88% of those surveyed said high-profile incidents had made company management more aware of threats to their organisation. Moreover, 70% of IT decision-makers were satisfied with their security policies and 75% agreed their backup and disaster recovery tools were fit for purpose.
In terms of response, over half (57%) strongly agreed it was a waste of time to negotiate with hackers. A similar number (59%) strongly disagreed that IT departments should keep a bitcoin fund for dealing with ransomware attacks.
As for the most popular measures for protecting data, multi-cloud solutions (66%) came out top. Single cloud solutions (31%) and off-premise physical backup (22%) finished off the top three measures.
Patrick Jordan, Chief Revenue Officer for Logicalis UK & Ireland, commented: “It has been a time of unprecedented change for Irish businesses. As workforces and operations became remote, the threat landscape shifted and arguably expanded with more locations to cover, more devices to protect and more risks to combat.
“This led to an intensification of the focus – and pressure – on technology solutions and IT support within organisations. This will only continue as we settle into the new way of hybrid working and invest in the tools to not only support but secure this. Businesses need to embrace this fully if they want to successfully architect change, safeguard operations, empower people and drive growth.”
Nathan Cullen, Ecosystem Leader, IBM, added: “It’s not just about identifying risks and protecting systems, companies need to have the means to respond effectively and quickly in the case of an attack or breach. They need to have the tools that enable prevention but also backup and recovery. Only then can they be cyber resilient and maintain business continuity. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is to be prepared for the worst-case scenario and always be ready to adapt.”
