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Fortinet has uncovered that less than 49 per cent of organisations in Australia and New Zealand were incapable of detecting a security breach within 90 days.
While companies tend to consider themselves well prepared in general, the new Fortinet report titled, 2022 Networking and Cybersecurity Adoption Index revealed a score of 75, which means that organisations are, for the most part, doing a reasonable job of ensuring cyber resilience. People and platform both scored 77, which is positive. However, enterprises were let down on the process side with a score of 72 indicating room for improvement.
According to the Fortinet researchers, Australian and New Zealand organisations face ongoing cyber threats with the potential to cause significant harm to the company and to individuals.
Coping with the ever-evolving threat landscape requires enterprises to combine people, processes, and platforms in an ongoing cycle of improvement to strengthen the organisation's cyber resilience. This can be challenging as companies continue to grapple with the ongoing cyber security skills shortage.
Jon McGettigan, regional director Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands at Fortinet, explained that organisations must ensure their most talented and skilled people are focused on the most important threats rather than on managing multiple point solutions, which can be costly and inefficient.
"This year’s Fortinet Networking and Cybersecurity Index demonstrates that, while organisations tend to consider themselves well prepared to face cyber threats, many of the specific actions needed to be genuinely prepared are not given the attention they need.
"CISOs and CIOs must look to educate their boards to understand the importance of building maturity and deal with gaps in knowledge.
"Leveraging cyber security awareness training from providers can significantly increase the cyber skills and capabilities of IT teams and deliver real value for enterprises and individuals alike," McGettigan said.
This year’s Networking and Cybersecurity Adoption Index indicates opportunities for organisations to deal with advanced persistent cyber crime and reduce operational risk through increasing the maturity level of the business.
Fortinet researchers recommend the following responses to cyber security challenges:
Based on a survey of more than 150 enterprise decision-makers across Australia and New Zealand, the 2022 Fortinet Networking and Cyber security Adoption Index targeted people holding leadership positions responsible for cyber security, including chief information security officers (CISOs) and chief information officers (CIOs).
Respondents represent a broad range of organisations, including manufacturing, healthcare, and technology as well as critical infrastructure sectors such as mining, energy, and transport.
[Related: Companies passing the buck for data breach costs to consumers]