Companies lose a tenth of their turnover due to cyber attacks

The latest Global Cybersecurity Report from edge cloud platform provider Fastly quantifies the enormous financial damage caused to companies by cyber attacks. Companies have lost around 9% of their turnover in the past twelve months as a direct result of cyber attacks. In addition to financial losses, other losses associated with successful cyber attacks include network outages (34%), data loss (29%), the shutdown of web applications (24%) and the compromise of customer accounts (22%).

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Trust must be rebuilt

At least as bad as the immediate consequences of a cyber attack are the longer-term effects on companies. On average, they need around 7.5 months to recover from the loss of trust from customers and partners as a result of a security incident. It is difficult to regain the trust that has been lost. Especially in already uncertain economic times, such long-term consequences of a cyber attack have a serious impact on companies and their competitiveness.

Skills shortage as a risk factor

Companies are prepared to invest in order to better arm themselves against cyber attacks and close existing gaps in their security infrastructure. 76% plan to increase their spending on cyber security in the coming year. The shortage of skilled workers also contributes significantly to companies’ vulnerability to cyber attacks. For example, 30% of cyber security managers believe that numerous security incidents are primarily due to a lack of experts. The biggest challenges in terms of personnel are the lack of experience in dealing with new threats (46%) and the lack of necessary skills (36%).

Generative AI: danger or savior?

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be a double-edged sword for cyber security: on the one hand, respondents see it as the second strongest driver of threats in the coming year. On the other hand, 75% of respondents also view the impact of generative AI positively and see it as an adequate means of mitigating the negative effects of the skills shortage on IT security.

Accordingly, 51% of security managers in companies would like to invest in generative AI in the next two years. In addition, managed security services, i.e. the outsourcing of cyber security to external experts, help to relieve the burden on in-house IT security teams, relieve them of time-consuming activities and increase their productivity. As a result, companies are better protected across all points of attack.