More than two-thirds of Irish organisations have increased their IT budgets this year, according to a survey, to account for better security, back-up and disaster recovery solutions as cyberattacks increase during the pandemic.
The survey from Logicalis Ireland, a digital services provider, found that 70 per cent of organisations reported increasing their IT budget for 2022 after close to a third (28 per cent) experienced a cyberattack in the last year.
Of those that were attacked, the survey found almost a quarter (24 per cent) are still recovering, while 27 per cent took about a month to do so. The most common forms of attack were malware and phishing.
The research – conducted by TechCentral and commissioned by Logicalis Ireland in association with tech company 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 per cent).
Shifting 'threat landscape'
Patrick Jordan, chief revenue officer for Logicalis UK & Ireland, said the pandemic has been a time of “unprecedented change” for Irish businesses with a shifting “threat landscape.”
“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,” he said.
“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.”
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is to be prepared for the worst-case scenario and always be ready to adapt
Nathan Cullen, ecosystem leader at 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.”
Of the survey respondents, 88 per cent said high-profile incidents had made company management more aware of threats to their organisation. Moreover, 70 per cent of IT decision-makers were satisfied with their security policies and 75 per cent agreed their backup and disaster recovery tools were fit for purpose.
In terms of response, over half (57 per cent) strongly agreed it was a waste of time to negotiate with hackers. A similar number (59 per cent) 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 per cent) came out top. Single cloud solutions (31 per cent) and off-premise physical backup (22 per cent) finished off the top three measures.
