Global Cyber Resilience survey reveals two-week disruption from cyber attacks

SEATTLE — Absolute Security has published comprehensive research revealing the state of enterprise Cyber Resilience. Among the top findings were that when hit with cybersecurity incidents and attacks, some organizations experienced operational disruptions that lasted as long as two weeks.

While the majority faced downtime that lasted nearly five days, none could recover business operations within a day.

Using data gathered from 750 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in the US and UK, the survey revealed that during the past 12 months, 55% of CISOs agreed their organization had experienced a cyberattack, ransomware infection, compromise, or data breach that rendered mobile, remote, or hybrid endpoint devices inoperable. When asked about recovery time, a majority (57%) reported their organizations took more than 4.5 days (on average) for full remediation and recovery, with 19% revealing recovery efforts stretched as long as two weeks. The survey further revealed that 98% of organizations are spending between $1 and $5 million to recover from cyber incidents, with the average cost to recover per incident now $2.5 million. Losses are likely understated, as this cost does not include overall losses attributed to total business downtime that attacks and incidents cause. Not a single respondent in the survey said they were able to recover from a cyber incident within a day when hit by an attack or incident in the past 12 months.

“There is simply no way to avoid the inevitable—at some point every organization will face the reality of a cyber incident or attack that takes down the business. Organizations that aren’t prepared to bounce back quickly face an almost existential crisis, as prolonged downtime can crush a business,” said Christy Wyatt, President and CEO, Absolute Security. “As security and risk leaders, we need to expand our focus beyond just traditional security. We must also be the driving force behind ensuring business operations run consistently and without disruption.”

The full report can be found online at https://go.absolute.com.