Agencies more vulnerable than ever to cyber security attack

Cyber security attack vulnerability is at all-time high, and just one in five agencies can manage an attack “very well,” in accordance with new research from audit and advisory firm KPMG LLP and recruitment firm and IT outsourcing provider Harvey Nash.

Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of the 4,498 global CIOs and technology leaders that the firms surveyed between the time period of December 2016 and April 2017 are adapting their technology strategies in the midst of unprecedented global political and economic uncertainty. The proportion of agencies surveyed that now have enterprise-wide digital strategies increased 52% in just 2 years, and those agencies with a chief digital officer have increased 39% over last year, in accordance to the study. Organizations are more vulnerable than ever to cyber security attack.

To assist deliver these complex digital strategies, organizations also report a huge demand for enterprise architects—the fastest increasing technology skill this year, up 26% compared with the year of 2016.

Nearly, one third of the IT leaders (32%) reported that their agencies had been the target of a major cyber security attack in the last 24 months, a 45% increase from 2013. Just one in five (21 percent) said they are “very well” prepared to respond to these attacks, down from 29% in the year of 2014.

The biggest rise in threats comes from insider attacks, increasing from 40% to 47% over last year.

“From an organizational and cultural perspective, the CIO is now confronted with a full transformation to digital, enterprise-wide,” said Bob Miano, president and CEO at Harvey Nash. This full-scale move to a digital atmosphere is increasing data vulnerability.

“Digital is without question the CIO’s priority. But specifically for legacy organizations, leading this change to a complete, unified digital strategy is top of mind,” Miano stated.

While the fastest-growing demand for a technology skill this year was enterprise architecture, big data and analytics sustained to be the most in-demand skill, at 42%, up 8% over last year.