The Cisco Cyber Security Report 2017

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Last week, Cisco released the 2017 annual Cyber Security Report at the Cisco Connect East Africa 2017 conference here in Nairobi. The global report which is now in its 10^th year highlights challenges that face the world in terms of cyber security, and the opportunities available for keeping attacks down.  According to the report, over one-third of organizations experienced a breach in 2016, that caused them to lose customers and revenues to a tune of 20 percent.

Digitization has taken over the world, with great examples in taxi operations, utility payments, banking among others. With digitization comes inherent security concerns. Cybercrime is on the rise and attack modes are shifting continuously as hackers switch tactics and get more corporate. Cybercrime is a huge market place raking in millions and the bad guys are operating with the trappings of big business. They’re well invested in high level infrastructure and data centers that are well engineered complete with backups. For example, one can purchase an attack like they would any other product and it will come with service level guarantees and chat lines for support. It is big business and security companies cannot afford to relax.

Government, which is digitizing at a high rate was also present at the launch of the cyber security report.  To understand Government concerns for security, look at Huduma Centres for example, which are making use of technology to deliver Government services more effectively and in a user friendly manner. Huduma centres are collecting and holding massive amounts of data. This is just one example, otherwise Government is digitizing a lot of sectors and is keen on having high level partnerships with security companies like Cisco.

The 2017 ACR revealed the potential financial impact of attacks on businesses. More than 50 percent of organizations faced public scrutiny after a security breach. Operations and finance systems were the most affected, followed by brand reputation and customer retention. For organizations that experienced an attack, the effect was substantial:

• Twenty-two percent of breached organizations lost customers — 40 percent of them lost more than 20 percent of their customer base.
• Twenty-nine percent lost revenue, with 38 percent of that group losing more than 20 percent of revenue.
• Twenty-three percent of breached organizations lost business opportunities, with 42 percent of them losing more than 20 percent.

To view the report in an easy to grasp infographic, click here.