Triangle’s independent Cyber Recovery Readiness survey found that prolonged business outages are a major risk for organisations.

According to new research based on Triangle Technology Services’ independent Cyber Recovery Readiness survey, organisations are facing significant challenges in preparing for and recovering from cyberattacks.

The company surveyed 130 IT and security decision-makers to explore how ready companies are for a cyber threat, but also how they might navigate the aftermath. 

What was found is that prolonged business outages are a major risk factor for organisations, particularly as frontier AI accelerates cyber threats.

Of those who participated, 64pc of companies were found to be missing a key risk remediation, 62pc confirmed that their organisation has isolated backups, but only 36pc could validate the integrity of that data when needed.

Commenting on the results of the report, Michelle Harris, the director of cyber recovery at Triangle, said, “Many organisations are investing heavily in AI for prevention of cyber attacks, but far fewer regularly test their ability to recover from a breach.

“Recovery readiness is now a critical business issue, and this survey provides valuable insight into how prepared organisations really are when disruption occurs.”

Additional findings indicated that, of the participating organisations, 51pc have a clean recovery environment and 62pc have a dedicated, coordinated recovery team. Almost half of companies have tested or rehearsed their recovery in the last year. 

“While threat awareness is real and growing, it has not yet translated into the right kind of action,” said Harris. 

“The National Cyber Security Centre in Britain changed their focus from prevention to recovery.  They’re saying organisations should assume there will be an event.  That hasn’t filtered through to a lot of organisations, where they are still focusing on prevention, which they do still have to do, of course.”

She added, “As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, businesses need to assume breaches will occur and ensure, through regular testing, they can recover operations quickly and securely.

“Organisations that have implemented mature cyber recovery capabilities know in advance of a breach what data they will recover, where they will be recovering to and how long it will take, so there is no guesswork involved when everyone is under pressure.”

In June, the Eir Business Hidden Cost of Cyber Risk report found that on average, cyberattacks are costing Irish small and medium-sized enterprises up to €3.4bn annually. 

It was discovered that the greatest impact is not from large-scale, one-off breaches, but frequent day-to-day cybersecurity-related disruptions that are driving losses for many Irish companies. 

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