CEOs are under-confident in Organizations’ Ability to Protect Against Cyberattacks
According to over two-thirds (64%) of CEOs polled, hackers might utilize generative AI to develop complex and difficult-to-detect cyberattacks such as phishing schemes, social engineering attacks, and automated hacks.
CEOs are under-confident in Organizations’ Ability to Protect Against Cyberattacks, The Cyber-Resilient CEO report revealed
Protecting an organization against cyberattacks is a significant task. Cyberattacks have the potential to bankrupt even the best-performing organizations. A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that attacks a company’s or an individual’s computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructure, or personal computer devices. Furthermore, all organizations are concerned about the protection of their company assets.
According to a new Accenture survey, three-quarters (74%) of CEOs are concerned about their companies’ ability to avert or minimize commercial harm from a cyberattack, despite the fact that 96% of CEOs believe cybersecurity is vital to organizational growth and stability.
The research, “The Cyber-Resilient CEO,” is based on a survey of 1,000 CEOs from significant firms throughout the world. Accenture’s research refers to CEOs’ reactive approach to cybersecurity, which increases the risk of attacks and raises the expense of responding to and remediating them.
According to the report, 60% of CEOs say their firms do not include cybersecurity into company strategy, services, or products from the start, and more than four in ten (44%) believe cybersecurity requires episodic intervention rather than continual attention.
More over half (54%) of CEOs incorrectly believe that the cost of implementing cybersecurity is greater than the expense of suffering a cyberattack, despite historical evidence to the contrary. According to the research, a global shipping and logistics industry breach resulted in a 20% decline in business volume and losses of $300 million.
Furthermore, despite the fact that 90% of CEOs believe cybersecurity is a differentiating aspect for their products or services in order to create customer confidence, just 15% hold specific board meetings for discussing cybersecurity issues.
This disparity may be explained by the fact that the vast majority of CEOs (91%) believe cybersecurity is a technical activity under the purview of the CIO or chief information security officer.
According to the paper, generative AI has the potential to offer a higher level of sophisticated security vulnerabilities, posing new problems that even best-practice cyber defenses may not be able to fully handle.
According to over two-thirds (64%) of CEOs polled, hackers might utilize generative AI to develop complex and difficult-to-detect cyberattacks such as phishing schemes, social engineering attacks, and automated hacks.
“The acceleration of generative AI makes it even more essential for organizations to take measures to ensure the security of their data and digital assets,” said Paolo Dal Cin, worldwide lead of Accenture Security.
“Unfortunately, it is frequently only after a significant cyber incident that they elevate cybersecurity to a board-level and C-suite priority and expand expectations beyond technology functions to better protect their organizations.” Integrating cybersecurity risk into an enterprise risk management framework is critical for improving security, regulatory compliance, company protection, and consumer trust.” Paolo Dal Cin also contributed.
The study reveals a limited number of CEOs who excel at cyber resilience. This group, which Accenture refers to as “cyber-resilient CEOs” and accounting for 5% of respondents, uses a broader lens to examine cybersecurity across all facets of their organizations.
These corporations recognize, contain, and resolve cyber threats faster than other organizations.
As a result, their breach costs are far lower and their financial performance is significantly better than the others, with 16% higher incremental revenue growth, 21% more cost-cutting improvements, and 19% healthier balance-sheet improvements on average.
On the other hand, “cyber laggards”—nearly half (46%) of CEOs—do not consistently or rigorously conduct any of the activities that cyber-resilient CEOs do and are often locked in a reactionary posture.
Five proactive activities that cyber-resilient CEOs are considerably more likely to implement than cyber laggards are:
- Incorporating cyber resilience into corporate strategy from the beginning. CEOs who are cyber-resilient are nearly twice as likely (60% vs. 33%) to oversee cyber performance in the same manner they manage financial performance.
- Creating a culture of shared cybersecurity accountability throughout the organization. Cyber-resilient CEOs are far more likely to promote shared accountability across the C-suite, inspiring executives to champion cybersecurity as a competitive differentiator that safely accelerates innovation (68% vs. 37%) and to collaborate closely with their CISOs to assess and manage the risks of generative AI, ensuring that the technology is used safely and effectively (54% vs. 33%).
- Securing the digital core at the organization’s heart. Cyber-resilient CEOs are more than twice as likely (76% vs. 35%) to say they want to increase their cybersecurity budget as the adoption and deployment of digital and new technologies accelerates.
- Increasing cyber resilience across corporate boundaries and silos. CEOs who are cyber-resilient are 40% more likely to establish particular policies and procedures for third parties, and they are even more likely to promote an enterprise-wide risk assessment strategy that spans business divisions and functions (64% vs. 41%).
- To stay ahead of the curve, embrace continuing cyber resilience. Cyber-resilient CEOs are far more likely (60% vs. 34%) to commit to continuously establishing industry-leading cybersecurity measures that take into account the changing risk landscape and align with C-suite priorities in order to protect the business and detect and respond effectively to cyberattacks.
“The constantly evolving and never-ending threat landscape is creating a wide gap between CEOs’ increasing awareness of the business impact of cyberattacks and their lack of confidence to mitigate them,” said Valerie Abend, global cybersecurity strategy lead at Accenture Security.
“This should serve as a wake-up call to everyone in the C-suite.” To close the cyber-resiliency gap, cybersecurity should be considered as an organizational-wide priority, with proper reporting processes, employee involvement at all levels, and increased commitment and accountability from the C-suite and the board.” Valerie Abend elaborated.
Methodology
Accenture questioned 1,000 CEOs from big firms (revenues more than $1 billion) in North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East.
The purpose was to assess their company’s cyber resilience and approach to cybersecurity business practices. In June 2023, the survey was performed online.
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