As the world looks to a post-Covid future, remote work and digital transformation are going to be key.
This is one of the findings from the Acronis Cyber Readiness Report, Which indicates that remote working is set to increase in the next months, along with a new focus on digital transformation and security.
The international survey was conducted by Acronis during June and July 2020, and included South Africa along with 16 other countries. The survey covered 3 400 IT managers and remote workers, evaluating their cyber readiness before and after the pandemic.
Respondents were from countries across four continents: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, UK, and US.
Companies in the US, Singapore, South Africa, India, and the UAE reported the most significant IT cost increases, followed by Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Key industries represented were IT/telecom; hospitality/travel; healthcare; education; sports/entertainment; manufacturing; and financial, legal and professional services.
In terms of cybersecurity, Singapore, South Africa, UAE, Bulgaria and India each reporting almost twice as many malware attacks than the global average.
Thirty-nine percent of companies have encountered videoconferencing attacks, with India, Switzerland, Canada and the UK among the most affected.
Phishing, DDoS & video conferencing attacks plaguing companies the most – and phishing campaigns reached a peak during the pandemic.
The survey found that 31% of companies around the world are attacked at least once a day, with India reporting almost twice as many attacks per day as any other country. Nine percent of all companies are targeted by cyberattacks at least once an hour, and 50% of respondents report encountering a cyberattack at least once a week during the past three months.
The world of work changed during the pandemic and we are unlikely to go back to how things were, according to the survey.
However, when lockdowns hit, only 53% of global remote workers received clear communication when switching to working from home – the other half were left to fend for themselves. A whopping 47% didn’t receive enough guidance, while 16% received no guidance at all.
Almost all companies (92%) had had to adopt new technologies to work remotely. The top solutions were: workplace collaboration tools, privacy solutions, and endpoint cybersecurity solutions. Only 7% didn’t need to upgrade their existing tool set.
As work from home took off during lockdowns, 72 % of surveyed companies report that their IT costs increased, with 27% of them reporting significant increases. Only one in five companies managed to relocate funds and keep their IT costs unchanged.
A massive 88% of employees indicated they’d like to continue working remotely to some extent.
Associated to this, employees in South Africa, India, the UAE, France, and Japan reported favouring even higher levels of digital transformation.
Worldwide, employees expect to see an increase in digital transformation investment from their companies. The countries where this expectation is most widely held are India, South Africa, the UAE, France and Japan.