Dell research shows the growing complexity of data protection and the increasing impact of IT failures and security breaches.

Ninety percent of companies experienced some form of IT disruption. This is according to Dell’s Global Data Protection Index, a survey of 1,000 IT decision makers and 500 IT security decision makers. The most commonly identified cause (40 percent) is external violations. In more than half of cases, attackers entered through an external first entry point: This can include users clicking on spam or phishing emails and malicious links, compromised user data, and hacked mobile devices.

Regardless of the cause, cyber incidents and disruptions have unpleasant consequences for companies. Over the past year, more than half (54 percent) experienced temporary loss of access to their own data following an incident. Disruptions of any kind cost an average of $2.61 million, cause an average of 26 hours of unplanned downtime and 2.45 TB of data loss.

Overreliance on insurance

Despite growing concerns about cyber attacks, Dell says companies are “overconfident” about what happens next. As many as 74 percent believe that they will get all of their data back after paying the ransom, and 66 percent believe that if they pay the ransom they will not be attacked again. This contradicts practical examples that show that paying a ransom does not provide any guarantees. On the contrary, you show criminals that you are a willing victim.

What companies still seem to have overconfidence on is their cyber insurance. Today, 93 percent of companies have insurance that (partially) covers the costs of a cyber attack. Only 28 percent of the affected companies actually received full compensation. In many situations, companies need to be able to demonstrate cybersecurity best practices (57 percent). 43 percent say their policy limits claim payouts, and 40 percent say certain scenarios cause their policy to be invalidated. Cyber ​​insurance is therefore nothing more than a plaster on the wound and in no way replaces preventive security measures.

AI to the rescue

The year is 2024, so it should also be about generative AI. Companies view technology as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, generative AI is seen as a tool: 52 say that integrating cybersecurity will benefit their organization.

At the same time, companies see generative AI as an additional form of complexity. As many as 88 percent say that generative AI will generate large amounts of new data that needs to be secured. The same percentage believe AI will increase the value of certain data.