SecurityBrief NZ – Cyber ​​fear slows the growth of New Zealand businesses

New Zealand companies must redefine their cybersecurity efforts if they want to have the hope of making the most of digital transformation, according to a new report by Microsoft and Frost & Sullivan

. New Zealand organizations surveyed had a cybersecurity incident; however, 16% of them were not sure because they had not conducted an assessment of data breach or digital forensics.

In addition, 43% of New Zealand respondents say they have pushed back the digital transformation because they are worried about cyber risks. Businesses take advantage of the opportunities offered by the cloud and mobile computing to connect with their customers and optimize their operations, they take new risks, "said Russell Craig, National Technology Officer for Microsoft in New Zealand [19659002]. new targets to attack. Companies run the risk of suffering significant financial losses, detracting from customer satisfaction and the reputation of the market, as recent high-profile violations have shown.

Not knowing what to do, many organizations take the wrong approach. dealing with security. Many see security as an afterthought, while others use a range of "unnecessarily complex" cybersecurity solutions.

The report also found that before a digital transformation project, only 19% would consider cybersecurity. The report states that this state of mind limits the ability of an organization to conceptualize and deliver a "secure by design" project, which could lead to products that are not secure.

If a company uses a lot of security solutions This does not necessarily mean that they are safer. Organizations with between 26 and 50 security solutions have encountered a similar percentage of security incidents as organizations with less than 10.

The report suggests that it is best to reduce the complexity and the number security tools used by organizations. continues to be a hot topic in cybersecurity, with 65 percent of respondents adopting or considering adopting an AI approach to cybersecurity protection.

"The use of AI-enabled security tools can greatly reduce risk," says Craig. More advanced tools analyze incoming messages for threats and filter them even before they reach our inboxes. Of course, it is impossible to totally prevent malicious hacking, human error or other sources of cyber risks, but the effectiveness of these tools continually improves, thanks to the breadth of cyber-threat data that can be collected via the public cloud.

The report provides three recommendations:

Continue to invest in strengthening your basic security principles: More than 90% of cyber incidents can be prevented by maintaining the most basic best practices. Maintain strong passwords, use multifactor authentication and maintain operating systems, software and anti-malware software;

• Assessment, review and ongoing compliance: Evaluations and reviews should be conducted regularly to verify potential gaps. Keep an eye on not only compliance with industry regulations, but also how the organization is progressing against best safety practices; and

• Leveraging AI and automation to increase capabilities and capabilities: With insufficient security capabilities, organizations need to turn to automation and automation. IA to improve the capabilities and capacity of their security operations. Understanding the Landscape of Threats to Cyber ​​Security in Asia-Pacific: Securing Modern Enterprise in a Digital World report.