Can your business spot the first signs of a data breach?

Cyber security is a major concern for many companies in this day and age but despite this, many are still unable to tell if their endpoints have been compromised or not. Though this sounds terrible, it may not be as bad as it sounds.

Cybersecurity researchers from Nozomi Networks found that 35% of businesses did not know if their business security had been compromised. In 2021, however, this figure rose to 48%, signifying a large improvement in visibility. Around a quarter of all businesses involved in the research were confident that they hadn’t had an accident this year; twice as many compared to the previous year.

Overall, the number of respondents admitting to having suffered a data breach in the last year went down, year-on-year, from 15% to 10.5%. A third of those said that the engineering workstation was an initial infection vector (twice as many, compared to 18.4% last year).

Many of these improvements can be seen across the board. A variety of which are coming from rising security budgets in businesses who are now prioritising the need for better protection. Two-thirds (66%) said that their cybersecurity budget rose in the last two years (up from 47% in the previous year). 56% have said that they’re now able to detect a compromise faster than before (at least within 24 hours) and around 69% can now detect and mitigate issues within 6-24 hours of being found.

Many businesses have now opted for regular audits on their control systems or networks for any weaknesses in their security. Out of those companies, 83% implemented a continual assessment to maintain effective responses to cyber threats.

“In the last year, Nozomi Networks researchers and the ICS cybersecurity community have witnessed attacks like Incontroller move beyond traditional targets on enterprise networks, to directly targeting OT,” said Nozomi Networks Co-founder and CPO Andrea Carcano.

“While threat actors are honing their ICS skills, the specialized technologies and frameworks for a solid defense are available. The survey found that more organizations are proactively using them. Still, there’s work to be done. We encourage others to take steps now to minimize risk and maximize resilience.”