Indian firms cannot prevent almost half of cyber attacks: Report

New Delhi: Indian organisations are incapable of preventing almost half of cyber attacks as 64 per cent of cybersecurity teams are too busy fighting critical incidents to take a proactive stance, claims a report.

As many as 78 per cent of Indian respondents believe their organisations could better defend against cyber attacks with more resources dedicated to preventive cybersecurity, but seven in 10 (71 per cent) organisations say their IT teams are more concerned with uptime than patching and remediation, the report by Columbia-based cybersecurity company Tenable said.

The disparity results in a lack of coordination between the two teams, a challenge acknowledged by 43 per cent of Indian organisations, the report based on an online study of 825 IT and cybersecurity professionals, of which 69 were Indians, conducted in 2023 stated.

Eight in 10 respondents (81 per cent) said their organisations use a third-party programme for SaaS apps and services. However, only over half (54 per cent) have visibility into these third-party environments making proactive security measures elusive.

"In today's threat landscape, by the time organisations react to cyberattacks, the battle is half lost,” said Tenable India Country Manager Kartik Shahani.

The study sheds light on the inherent issues within Indian organisations' own structure and operations. This misalignment in goals between IT and security teams results in a palpable lack of synchronisation, making it challenging for these vital components of an organisation to work cohesively toward a shared goal, he added.