Cybersecurity leaving millions of firms vulnerable

Many companies are being left short, choosing not to adopt new technology in fear of a breach in cybersecurity.

Despite most companies understanding the need to stay ahead when it comes to using the latest technology, the increased security threat to the digital world has resulted in many businesses becoming overly cautious. A study has shown when adopting new IT technologies, most companies would choose to wait until they have been proven safe – often by larger tech and media organisations – before trying them.

Experts have recently proven that, contrary to popular belief, cybersecurity is not simply an IT issue, with big data being sold for huge prices, hackers are now more likely to attempt to secretly steal your employee and client contact details than take down your website.

“Cybersecurity is no longer just a technology issue, it is a business one too.” – Forbes

Research by Intertrust revealed that 80 per cent of employee reward and incentive professionals believe cybersecurity is the biggest challenge facing their industry.

Due to the nature of employee reward and incentive systems, sharing high volumes of data with third parties via portals and tech platforms, the risk of systems being hacked and suffering data breaches is a big concern, as is compliant with data protection laws.

Other major IT failures identified by respondents included a shortage of skilled staff and the inability to recruit tech talent.

37 per cent believed that data analytics exposed a major skills shortage in the cybersecurity area, while 32 per cent added artificial intelligence to the growing list of concerns. Blockchain (21 per cent) and general coding (11 per cent) also topped the list of professional worries.

“Our research suggests that the industry recognises the importance of embracing technology innovation, which is encouraging,” said Shane Hugill, head of performance and reward management at Intertrust. “However, many firms admit they are still behind the curve when it comes to attracting tech talent. The nature of the industry means we are extremely vulnerable to cybersecurity risks, so firms would be well advised to seek third party guidance when finding the best ways to plug the tech skills gap; either through recruitment or more efficient outsourcing to a trusted provider.”

Despite the skills gap created by emerging technologies, almost half (47 per cent) of respondents claim to be in the process of recruiting new tech talent at a senior level with plans to increase training for existing staff.  A further 79 per cent believe that organisations in their sector will create more senior C-Level technology director roles with a mandate to drive strategic change.