OPERATIONS
Escalating inflation , eye-popping interest rates , contracting GDP – in his Autumn Statement , the Chancellor acknowledged that we ’ re in a recession . Well , maybe in the ‘ real ’ world , but not in the tech world . And let ’ s face it , it ’ s becoming increasingly hard to differentiate between the two .
I firmly believe that the expected economic downturn will pass the technology industry – and specifically cybersecurity – by , and there are a number of reasons for that line of thinking .
During a traditional recession , companies will lay off staff to keep themselves afloat and pull back on their spending , usually across some key areas . Marketing is frequently the first to go and , historically , reining in investments in technology and infrastructure has been a close second . Cybersecurity in particular has often been an afterthought for many businesses , so much so that , in the ‘ old days ’, SMEs would struggle to get cybersecurity funding until they were the victim of an attack . Only then did it become a priority .
But that couldn ’ t be further from what ’ s going on in 2022 . There have been a few cases of cybersecurity layoffs , but , generally speaking , the sector is booming like never before – albeit partly fuelled by necessity – with investments ramping up in response to soaring levels of cybercrime .
WRITTEN BY : VIKKI DAVIES
Cyberattacks fuelled by COVID-19 With cybersecurity at an all-time high , COVID-19 has a lot to answer for . Indeed , the number of cyberattacks on businesses increased by almost 70 % in 2021 , with two-in-five ( 40 %) of those targeted at SMEs because security policies weren ’ t agile enough to prevent or mitigate against malware , phishing , ransomware , denial of service attacks , and SQL injections – amongst other threats – when employees started working remotely . Changes in perimeter have led to increased security threats as employees access sensitive data through unsafe Wi-Fi networks and use personal devices for work .
The average cost of an attack to businesses has soared into the tens of thousands of pounds , and organisations are therefore wising up to the fact that the traditional cybersecurity approach of waiting until the horse has bolted no longer works . A recent report by Morgan Stanley showed that security software is the area in which CIOs are least likely to cut spending , should the economy worsen .
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