News & Comment: Travelers Risk Index – Businesses Believe a Cyber Attack is Inevitable, Yet Many Report Not Adequately Preparing

The 2018 Travelers Risk Index found cyber risks are the No. 2 concern across all business sizes and industries, and the percentage of businesses reporting they have been the victim of a cyber-attack has doubled. Despite all of this and the fact that 52 percent of respondents believe that suffering a cyber-attack is inevitable, a majority of those surveyed reported not taking adequate steps to protect themselves…

Read release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180920005486/en/Travelers-Risk-Index-Businesses-Cyber-Attack-Inevitable

COMMENT:

Tim Erlin, VP, product management and strategy at Tripwire:

“The conflict between high confidence and missing foundational controls demonstrates that most organizations simply aren’t sure what ‘best practices’ for cybersecurity really are. There are a number of reasonable starting points for best practices, including the CIS controls and NIST cybersecurity framework, but there’s relatively little focus placed on measuring how an organization is doing with these basics. It’s far easier to purchase the latest artificial intelligence cybersecurity tool than it is to assess your implementation of foundational controls. Until business leaders are capable of asking more directed questions about cybersecurity controls, we’re likely to see this contraction persist.”