Singapore businesses face a stark reality: Only one per cent effectively understand and are ready to tackle today’s rapidly evolving cyber threats, according to a recent Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index study. This highlights the need for proactive cyber measures like deploying advanced security solutions.
Alarmingly, about three-quarters of the 158 Singaporean enterprises surveyed lack robust defences, particularly in network resilience and AI-powered protection. This leaves them vulnerable to cyberattacks.
According to the findings released last week, the figures while sobering, are not isolated to Singapore. Globally, only three per cent of the over 8,000 respondents surveyed globally are deemed fully prepared for the ongoing cyber battle. About 80 per cent are somewhat prepared, while 11 per cent remain under-prepared.
The expansion of the digital landscape, fuelled by digital transformation for companies to stay competitive, has further exacerbated these challenges. With employees accessing networks remotely from various devices and locations, the attack surface for cyber threat actors has widened considerably.
Raymond Janse van Rensburg, Cisco’s vice-president of specialists and solutions engineering for Asia-Pacific and Japan, noted in a virtual briefing on March 28 that nearly one-third of employees regularly switch between at least six networks weekly.
Additionally, close to half of them spend a significant portion of their time logged into company networks from unmanaged devices, creating vulnerabilities.
Malware and phishing attacks remain the top two cyber threats over the past year. Hackers are exploiting stolen identities, targeting supply chains, and devising new methods to extort money from businesses.
A significant concern highlighted by nearly three-quarters of survey respondents is the heightened threat posed by remote logins, attributed to unsecured Wi-Fi networks, inadequate threat monitoring across multiple networks, and the use of unmanaged devices.
Cisco’s double-blind survey underscores the complexity of today’s hyperconnected world, where cybersecurity preparedness remains an ongoing challenge.
Compounding this challenge is the shortage of cybersecurity talent, with 90 per cent of respondents in Singapore citing talent acquisition as a major issue, with 45 per cent reporting more than 10 unfilled cybersecurity roles.
Further, the report highlighted that the traditional approach of adopting multiple cybersecurity point solutions has not delivered effective results, as 85 per cent of respondents admitted that having multiple point solutions slowed down their teams’ ability to detect, respond and recover from incidents.
This raises significant concerns as 69 per cent of respondents said they have deployed 10 or more point solutions in their security stacks, while 27 per cent said they have 30 or more.
Despite these challenges, there is a positive trend. Nearly all respondents anticipate an increase in their cybersecurity budget over the next year, with 91 per cent expecting a rise of 10 per cent or more.
Additionally, nearly half of the respondents are planning to upgrade their IT infrastructure in the next 12 to 24 months, with a significant focus on investing in AI-driven technologies and deploying new cybersecurity solutions.
The Cybersecurity Readiness Index, structured around four pillars – identity intelligence, machine trustworthiness, network resilience, and cloud reinforcement, aims to guide enterprises in their cybersecurity strategies.
This year, the index incorporated additional factors, such as continuous risk-based access analytics and the integration of AI to verify machine trustworthiness, reflecting the evolving landscape of cyber threats and readiness measures.
