What Is Cybersecurity Maturity?
With the majority of the world embracing digitalization, data protection, and cyber attack prevention became imperative. Industries and businesses are responsible for protecting clients, company, and employee data and ensuring they never fall victim to cybercrime.
However, that is easier said than done. According to cybersecurity stats, roughly 800,000 people per year fall victim to all sorts of cyber attacks. As new strategies for data extortion and exploitation emerge, the number may only increase in the future.
Every organization should form a cybersecurity program that would allow it to shield itself from attacks. A mature approach to cybersecurity can help organizations detect, identify, neutralize attacks, and respond in a way that is unique to their business and in accordance with the data and technology architecture they rely on.
For example, Statista’s report shows that manufacturing had the largest percentage of cyberattacks among the top global industries in 2022 (24.8%). Finance and insurance sector was next in line (18.9%), followed by professional, business, and consumer services (14.6%).
Each of these industries utilizes different technologies and has different priorities regarding security. That said, when applying a cybersecurity maturity model system, each organization can evaluate its capability to protect itself against cyber attacks and implement measures that work for them but might not be a good solution for other businesses, even if they belong to the same industry sector.
All in all, the cybersecurity maturity model is a unique approach to safety that goes beyond a standard security framework.
CYE’s Cybersecurity Maturity Report 2023
In the Cybersecurity Maturity Report 2023, CYE reports which countries and industries have the strongest control, protocols, and defense against cyberattacks and which ones, on the other hand, requires improvement. The report also showcases the most common vulnerabilities, depending on the company’s size, industry, and country.
The CYE’s Cybersecurity Maturity Report is based on data the CYE has been gathering for over two years in 15 countries. They’ve conducted cyber assessments, all of which include a thorough evaluation of each organization and its security practices.
Besides that, the Cybersecurity Maturity report offers examples and recommendations that you and your organization might consider implementing for better cyber posture. This methodology allowed them to obtain accurate information regarding the security status of each organization participating in research, and your organization could use it to make the first step towards better security.
That said, let’s examine their key findings.
Is there a Correlation Between Budget and Security?
After conducting the research, the CYE got the following results:
With a score of 2.4, Norway had the highest average score across all relevant security factors examined in the report. Croatia showed the second-best results, with an average score of 2.89, followed by Japan (2.39). Conversely, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, and Spain were countries with the least security points.
It’s no surprise that Norway received the top ratings in the majority of domains. Norway was one of the first countries worldwide to have a national cybersecurity strategy – it was introduced in 2003, improved in 2007, and then revised again in 2012.
Source: CYE Cyber Security Report 2023
The analysis also showed that correlation between a high budget and impeccable security doesn’t always exist.
Although they have generous budgets for cybersecurity spending, the United States, UK, and Germany are not at the top of the rankings, illustrating that a large financial investment does not always translate to a high maturity level.
The Cybersecurity Maturity Report 2023 states.
These findings showcase that organizations can tighten their budgets for cybersecurity prevention without making themselves more prone to security breaches. As large financial investments don’t necessarily lead to an organization establishing high cyber maturity levels, many can cut costs and improve their chances of mitigating attacks with proper organization and a unique cybersecurity program.
Maturity Level by Industry
One of the most surprising findings in the Cybersecurity Maturity Repost 2023 is that the tech industry didn’t have the highest maturity level scores. Instead, this industry took fifth place and was surpassed by the industrial, services, financial, and energy sectors.
However, the tech industry can be considered more vulnerable compared to other industries mentioned in this report, primarily because tech companies are some of the primary cyber attack targets. Still, that only insinuates the necessity to make drastic improvements, making this report a wake-up call to all the techies out there who need to step up their organizations’ cybersecurity maturity levels.
Retail is the industry with the lowest maturity level; healthcare and the public sector were also at the bottom. Considering that, among all these sectors, the healthcare industry is the most vulnerable in terms of storing the most sensitive information, its low ranking is highly concerning.
Source: CYE Cyber Security Report 2023
Maturity Level: Small and Medium Businesses vs Large Organizations
The Cybersecurity Maturity Report shows that very small and medium-sized businesses attained the highest cybersecurity maturity scores. Conversely, organizations with 10,000+ employees didn’t perform as well as the previously mentioned businesses.
Medium organizations know that they have no choice but to make cybersecurity a priority and have the resources to invest in cybersecurity solutions. Small organizations, however, have a small attack surface that can be managed successfully by a small security team. The reason that very large organizations have low maturity is due to the challenges of defending with such a large attack surface.
States the Cybersecurity Maturity Report 2023.
In addition, the study concludes that 32% of participants, whether they are classified as small or large organizations, have weak password policies, and 23% have weak authentication mechanisms. Regardless of the company size, these problems could be tackled with minimal effort. What is devastating, though, is that weak passwords open doors to an array of cyberattacks that might’ve been prevented if proper practices and systems were employed on time.
These are the key findings in the Cybersecurity Maturity Report 2023. If you want a deeper dive into the topic, you can find the full report here.
