Report: 72 percent of retailers globally have experienced a cyberattack

A new survey by Keeper Security and the Ponemon Institute indicates that about 72% of retailers worldwide have suffered cyber attacks. The survey results also show that the loss of customer/employee data involved in each cyberattack resulted in the loss or theft of an average of 7,772 customers’ personal records. The average operational disruption caused by each cyberattack resulted in an average loss of nearly $1.9 million.

“Cybersecurity blue”by Infosec Images is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Of the retailers surveyed, 87% agreed that cyberattacks became more targeted, 67% believed that cyberattacks were getting worse, and another 61% thought cyberattacks became more complex. The most common methods of attack are phishing (69%), network-based attacks (54%) and malware attacks (40%).

From the factors behind these attacks, the budget is the biggest concern for retailers. Only one-third of retailers believe they have enough budget to achieve strong IT security. However, 93% of retailers spend less than 20% of their total IT budget on average, with an average expenditure of 11.5%. Insufficient staff (91%), under-budget (51%) and an understanding of how to protect themselves from cyber attacks (40%) are the most frequently mentioned challenges that hinder a fully effective security posture.

Via: betanews