More than half of U.S. businesses (53%) have experienced a cyberattack in the past year, according to a survey of 403 chief executive, chief information, chief technology, chief operating, chief financial officers and other senior executives in the U.S.
Conducted by Zogby Analytics for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB), a division of global insurance giant Munich Re, the survey found that of those businesses hacked in the previous 12 months, 72% spent over $5,000 to investigate each cyber-attack, restore or replace software and hardware, and deal with other consequences.
“In addition to the rising number of cyberattacks and related costs, businesses are increasingly anxious about protecting their data” said Timothy Zeilman, HSB’s vice president for HSB, noted in a statement. “Data is what drives a business and the loss or corruption of information can be devastating.”
More than a third of the hacked businesses (38%) spent more than $50,000 to respond to cyberattacks, while 10% spent $100,000 to $250,000 and 7% more than $250,000.
Seven in ten executives polled in the HSB survey were concerned that data would be destroyed as a result of a cyberattack, with 62% were concerned about equipment damage.
This survey adds to findings from a separate poll which determined that transportation is one of the most highly-targeted industries for cyberattacks.
Other findings from this survey include:
- The most common consequence of cyberattacks: data loss (60%) followed by business interruption (55%).
- Malware (53%) and viruses (51%) were the most common types of cyberattacks.
- Businesses and institutions also experienced distributed denial of service or “DDoS” attacks (35%); ransomware (29%); cyber extortion (25%) and social engineering (13%).
- When asked to identify the biggest risk to cyber security, the respondents cited negligent and disgruntled employees (45%) and hackers (37%).
- Increasingly, businesses are looking for financial protection against cyberattacks. Almost two-thirds of companies (61%) purchased or increased their level of cyber insurance coverage over the past year, and 56% of them purchased cyber insurance for the first time.
