Accenture Identifies Gaps in Corporate Efforts to Achieve Business Resilience to Mitigate Cyber Risks
July 29 2015 - 8:03AM
Business Wire
Nearly two-thirds of C-suite executives
surveyed indicate that cyberattacks occur daily or weekly
As companies embark on new digital business strategies, nearly
two-thirds (63 percent) of C-suite executives report that their
companies experience significant cyberattacks daily or weekly;
however, only 25 percent of them said their organization always
incorporates measures into the design of their company’s technology
and operating models to make them more resilient, according to a
new Accenture (NYSE:ACN) survey.
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The Accenture paper, Business resilience in the face of cyber
risk, also reported that in response to the situation, 88 percent
of the more than 900 executives surveyed believe their cyber
defense strategy is robust, understood and fully functional. Nearly
as many (86 percent) measure their organization’s resilience to
determine what improvements are needed.
However, only nine percent of executives said their company
proactively runs inward-directed attacks and intentional failures
to test their systems on a continuous basis. About half (53
percent) of those surveyed said their company has a continuity plan
that they refresh as needed. Just 49 percent map and prioritize
security, operational and failure scenarios and even fewer (45
percent) have produced threat models to existing and planned
business operations to enable rapid responses to an attack or
system failure. Only 38 percent of the executives said their
companies had thoroughly documented the relationships between their
technology and operational assets to identify resilience risks and
dependencies in their organization.
“Given the prevalence of cyberattacks on today’s companies and
government organizations, the only question for most is when a
cyberattack will occur, not if it will occur,” said Brian Walker,
managing director, Accenture Technology Strategy. “While savvy
executives know where their weak spots are, and work across the
C-suite to prepare accordingly, testing systems, planning for
various scenarios, and producing response and continuity plans that
guide quick actions when a breach occurs, the data clearly shows
that companies by and large have more work to do.”
According to the report, successful enterprises recognize that
responsibility for resilience and agility does not just fall to the
CIO, chief information security officer (CISO) or chief risk
officer. On average, the research found that companies have
two executives in the C-suite who are responsible for continuously
monitoring and improving their business resilience. Nineteen
percent of the represented companies had a “dedicated resilience
officer.”
“To enable and protect the company, CEOs should work closely
with their CIO, CISO and others across their leadership team as
well as their board of directors, to make decisions about
investments, and advance their business continuity efforts,” said
Walker. “They cannot prevent an attack or failure, but they
can mitigate the damage it can cause by taking steps to make their
business more resilient, agile and fault-tolerant.”
To that end, the report suggests that companies:
- Create a digital ecosystem that enables
them to team with other enterprises, augment their digital
capabilities and access innovative technologies that reside outside
the enterprise to strengthen their organization’s security posture
and effectiveness;
- Manage digitally to deliver multi-speed
business and IT capabilities in real-time by simplifying the IT
architecture and addressing the business’s evolving digital
requirements in a dynamic environment; and
- Institutionalize resilience by making
it part of the operating model, ingrained from the outset into
objectives, strategies, processes, technologies and organizational
culture including fostering open communication with boards on
governance practices and enterprise risk management.
Methodology
To complete the research, 959 c-suite executives, predominantly
chief executive officers (CEOs), chief information officers (CIOs),
chief technology officers (CTOs) and chief operating officers
(COOs), were surveyed via phone and online. They work across
the following industries: banking; insurance; capital markets;
energy; utilities; retail; telecommunications; high technology;
consumer goods and services; automotive; industrial equipment,
infrastructure and transportation; pharmaceuticals; life sciences
and biotech; health insurance; and healthcare providers. Data was
collected between April and June 2015. Read the report at
www.accenture.com/BusinessResilience.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services
and outsourcing company, with more than 336,000 people serving
clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and
business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most
successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help
them become high-performance businesses and governments. The
company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal
year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Accenture Strategy operates at the intersection of business and
technology. We bring together our capabilities in business,
technology, operations and function strategy to help our
clients envision and execute industry-specific strategies that
support enterprise wide transformation. Our focus on issues related
to digital disruption, competitiveness, global operating models,
talent and leadership help drive both efficiencies and growth. For
more information, follow @AccentureStrat or visit
www.accenture.com/strategy.
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AccentureBarbara Lyon, +1
703-947-1838barbara.d.lyon@accenture.com
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