Findings from the 2013 State of Cybercrime Survey

PricewaterhouseCoopers Firm (PwC) has released the most recent findings of its eleventh survey on cybercrime trends. The survey consulted 500 executives, security experts, and others from both the private and public sectors to uncover their views on the state of cybercrime. The "state of cybercrime" for the purposes of this survey refers to "who the internal and external threat actors are, what they are after, how well public-private collaboration supports cybersecurity, and what technologies are best able to defend and protect against cyberattacks."

The results of the survey showed the emergence of three main themes: 1.Leaders do not know who is responsible for their organization's cybersecurity, nor are security experts effectively communicating on cyberthreats, cyberattacks, and defensive technologies. 2.Many leaders underestimate their cyber-adversaries' capabilities and the strategic financial, reputational, and regulatory risks they pose. 3.Leaders are unknowingly increasing their digital attack vulnerabilities.

"The survey results tell us that many organizational leaders do not know or appreciate what they are up against, lack a clear, real-time understanding of the nature of today's cyber-threats and those who pose these risks, and have made little headway in developing strategies to defend against both internal and external cyber-adversaries.

The survey also tells us that we collectively have a long way to go in coming to terms with the extent of the threat, its short - and long - term implications and what actions should be taken to curtail the multi-faceted impact."

PwC maintains that while many organizations are currently vulnerable to crippling cyberattacks, the fix is a fairly easy one. "The majority (roughly 80%) rely on exploits that companies can readily defend against, if they focus their attention on fundamental cybersecurity education, properly maintained IT [information technology] infrastructure, and effective monitoring."

read more