Survey reveals cyber breach security plan uncertainty

Recently released survey results showed that only 9 percent of United Kingdom businesses feel totally confident in their organization’s cyber breach mitigation plan.

The BAE Systems study noted that despite continuing news of cyber attacks and data breaches every day, businesses are still struggling to establish plans that will help them deal with 21st-century threats.

“Many organizations still see dealing with a cybersecurity breach as a black swan event, something significant and unexpected that in hindsight could have been prevented, and have not yet made their mitigation plans business as usual,” James Hatch, Cyber Services director at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, said. “Effective management of cyber breaches requires businesses to be organised and prepared for the threats that they face, with a clear process in place. Everyone involved should be confident in what they need to do.”

Officials said when asked what was their most important tool in identifying a cyber-attack quickly, almost half said that technology is their most important tool, with people ranked second at 32 percent while just 15 percent named process as the most important tool.

“There are two problems,” Hatch said. “Most organizations struggle to deal with something beyond the experience of their people. Each time existing experience is stretched, it can cause an emotional reaction within organisations. They have to prepare for these new experiences and learn how to handle in the future. External specialists can help but are most effective when their involvement and arrangements for mobilization, access, and communication are defined in advance.”