UK companies worried about cyber terrorism

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Published: Wednesday, 21 September 2016 07:05

New research commissioned by IP EXPO Europe has found that 47 percent of UK IT decision makers (ITDMs) are more concerned about cyber terrorism attacks now than they were 12 months ago. It was identified as the biggest cyber security risk in the future (27 percent), followed by attacks to national infrastructure (13 percent).

In light of this newly perceived risk, more ‘traditional’ cyber threats such as malware, ransomware and DDos are rated as a lower risk, with only 11 percent, 10 percent and 9 percent of ITDMs respectively noting these threats as the biggest risk. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this has led to an overwhelming 94 percent of respondents demanding that the UK Government spend more on national cyber security.

Unsurprisingly, 43 percent identified cyber security as one of the main technology themes for enterprises in 2017, with 89 percent of respondents admitting worry about being the victim of a security breech. However, almost a third (29 percent) are even more worried than they were 12 months ago, indicating concern over rising threat levels.

In addition, the research revealed concern over the rising threat level. Not only have 52 percent of ITDMs had to deal with at least one cyber attack on their organization in the last 12 months, 67 percent think that the threat level has increased in the last year. In fact, 32 percent would rate the current threat level as 21 to 30 percent higher than previously. Technology developments in areas such as AI (22%) and cloud (49 percent) are identified as increasing exposure to cyber security threats.

Not only are UK ITDMs dealing with increased threat levels, many also claim they are continuing to face resourcing and skills issues. 29 percent are more worried about having enough resources to keep their business safe from cyber threats than they were 12 months ago, whilst 27 percent think that cyber security skills are going to be the most in-demand STEM skills in the future.

In the light of these results, it is unsurprising that 16 percent expect to spend over 50 percent of their IT budget on cyber security and 25 percent will spend 11 to 30 percent. Conversely, a surprising 18 percent say that they don’t expect to allocate any budget to cyber security solutions in the next 12 months.