Quarter of CFOs Have Suffered $1m+ Breaches

Around a quarter of UK business leaders expect cyber-threats to significantly increase this year, with a similar number of global firms having already suffered costly breaches in the past, according to PwC.

The global consultancy’s annual Digital Trust Insights report is compiled from interviews with over 3500 senior business and technology executives globally, including 249 in the UK.

It revealed that 27% of global CFOs have suffered a significant data breach in the past three years, costing their organization over $1m. The average global cost of a breach currently stands at nearly $4.4m, according to IBM.

This experience may be informing attitudes to cyber risk over the coming year. Some 27% of UK respondents said they expect business email compromise (BEC) and “hack and leak” attacks to significantly increase in 2023, and 24% said the same about ransomware.

Digital transformation appears to be a core challenge. Around two-thirds of UK execs admitted they still haven’t fully mitigated the cyber risks associated with such projects, while two-fifths (39%) said they expect cloud-based risks to significantly affect their organization in 2023.

Attacks on cloud management interfaces (33%), industrial internet of things (IIoT) systems (20%) and operational technology (20%) are also expected to increase in 2023, according to respondents.

“In part the increase in cloud-based threats is a result of some of the potential cyber risks associated with digital transformation. An overwhelming majority (90%) of UK senior executives in our survey ranked the ‘increased exposure to cyber risk due to accelerating digital transformation’ as the biggest cybersecurity challenge their organization has experienced since 2020,” said PwC cybersecurity chair, Richard Horne.

“However, these digital transformation efforts – which include initiatives such as migration to cloud, moving to ecommerce and digital service delivery methods, the use of digital currencies and the convergence of IT and operational technology – are critical to future-proofing businesses, unlocking value and creating sustainable growth.”