Responding To Cyberattacks: Omnipresent Problem Puts Most Organizations At Risk Of Complete Shutdown

New research by VIPRE Security reveals some serious gaps in the ability of organizations to defend against and respond to cyberattacks. The gaps threaten their survival in some cases, causing most IT managers (66%) to live in fear that a cyberattack would cause their business to shut down temporarily (44%) or even permanently (22%).

The research shows IT managers understand the importance of effective cybersecurity but responding to an attack is a problem, with 54% of IT managers relying on manual processes for remediation. Even worse, 55% do not have an incident response plan (IRT), which would hinder their ability to react in the first place. On any given day, fewer than half (41%) have access to a web-based s ecurity dashboard, which means 59% lack anytime/anywhere access to security solutions. Add to that the fact that only a quarter of study participants apply software patches on at least a weekly basis, and you have the makings of a potential disaster should an attack occur.

It isn’t all negative, though. VIPRE Security’s “Managing Cyberattacks” survey found that IT managers feel they are well-served with their endpoint security. And in what is unquestionably an encouraging sign, a full 80% said their organizations offer security training to employees at least quarterly.