Key points:
- A survey of CISOs reveals growing unease around the potential of cyberattacks becoming a reality
- Employee turnover, email fraud, and ransomware worries top the list of CISO concerns
- See related article: 3 simple steps to achieve cyber maturity
Most chief information security officers (CISOs) have returned to the elevated concerns they experienced early in the pandemic, according to the Voice of the CISO report, an annual report from cybersecurity and compliance company Proofpoint, Inc.
Sixty-eight percent of surveyed CISOs feel at risk of a material cyberattack, compared to 48 percent the year before, when they may have felt a brief sense of calm after adapting to the chaos of the pandemic, according to the report, which explores key challenges, expectations and priorities of (CISOs).
This year’s data is a shift back to 2021, when 64 percent of CISOs believed a material attack was imminent. Likewise, sentiments about preparedness levels have reversed: 61 percent feel unprepared to cope with a targeted cyberattack, showing a marked increase over last year’s 50 percent and a close return to 2021’s 66 percent.
While organizations have largely overcome the disruptions of the last two years, the effects of the Great Resignation and employee turnover continue to linger, exacerbated by the recent wave of mass layoffs—82 percent of CISOs say that employees leaving the organization played a role in a data loss event. Even though 63 percent of security leaders had to deal with the loss of sensitive information in the past 12 months, 60 percent believe they have adequate data protection in place.
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