FEATURE
Palo Alto Networks has published its 2023 State of Cybersecurity ASEAN report , which found that larger businesses within ASEAN faced increased security risks from unsecured IoT devices and newfound risks from their increased reliance on cloud-based services .
OT cybersecurity continues to remain a top concern in the region since 82 % of organisations with Operations Technology have a common cybersecurity team that look after their IT and OT infrastructure and systems .
The study received responses from 500 business representatives across Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia , the Philippines and Thailand assessing their perspectives on the cybersecurity challenges and future strategies .
Even though the risk exposure to cyberthreats is high with 52 % organisations feeling they are at high risk from cybersecurity threats , 90 % of the organisations across ASEAN are still confident in their adopted security measures .
However , small businesses felt relatively less confident in coping with the cybersecurity challenges due to constrained cybersecurity budgets and relatively weaker in-house cybersecurity talent .
Increasing digital transactions with third parties ( 51 %), risks from unmonitored IoT devices ( 47 %) and risks posed by personal devices and home networks accessing the corporate network ( 47 %) were cited as the top three challenges facing cybersecurity practitioners .
But over 80 % of all businesses say cybersecurity is being discussed at the board level on a quarterly basis and is top of the agenda for most boards . This has resulted in 66 % of all organisations increasing the budget allocated for cybersecurity in 2023 .
Additionally , 29 % of all organisations reported a more than 50 % increase in budget for 2023 compared to that in 2022 – pitched as a very positive trend as more organisations across the region build resilience against cybersecurity threats .
While this confidence is reflected across industry sectors in the region , it is particularly apparent in the Services ( Banking and Financial ) as well as Transport and Logistics sectors .
“ The confidence in their security measures indicates that businesses have and are continuing to build resilience against evolving cyberattacks .
“ However , the survey urges confidence to be coupled with caution . Taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity is the need of the hour which will need an all-hands-on-deck initiative with active participation from everyone within the organisation ,” said Steven Scheurmann , Regional Vice President for ASEAN , Palo Alto Networks .
Key findings from the report include :
Industry :
• ASEAN organisations face three main cybersecurity challenges :
• Unmonitored IoT devices and unsecured IoT devices ( 60 %)
• Personal devices and home networks accessing the corporate network ( 47 %)
• Increase in digital transactions with third parties ( 47 %)
• Most organisations with OT ( 82 %) also admitted to having a common cybersecurity team that look after their IT and OT infrastructure and systems .
• A majority of businesses claim to be working on a 5G strategy , but are concerned with securing 5G data and applications layers .
Cybersecurity risks :
• An alarming 95 % of organisations said there is a rise in cybersecurity incidents and that disruptive attacks have grown .
• More than half ( 52 %) of organisations in ASEAN feel that they are at high risk from cybersecurity threats , particularly those in the Services ( Banking and www . intelligentciso . com
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