78% companies expect another SolarWinds-style hack, survey finds

Only 47% chief information security officers (CISO) have briefed their boards about the SolarWinds hacks.

Increase in remote work and expansion in usage of cloud and digital technologies could boost cyberattacks, survey says

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78% companies worldwide expect another Solar Winds-style hack, one of the most large-scale supply chain attacks to date that affected over 18,000 organisations.

In February, Research firms Splunk and the Enterprise Strategy Group asked 535 security and IT leaders two months after the SolarWinds attack whether they expect a similar cyberattack.

The respondents noted that an increase in remote work and expansion in usage of cloud and digital technologies could boost cyberattacks. More than two-thirds of them felt remote workers were harder to secure.

“In the race to set up remote work, there was a rushed transition to cloud solutions to allow remote employees to do basic tasks, like communicate with videoconferencing and instant messaging. At many organizations, security practices were sacrificed,” said Yassir Abousselham, CISO at Splunk.

At least 95% companies perform various assessments of a vendor’s security but still the existing security checks failed to stop the SolarWinds attack. This questions their detection capabilities of any threats in future. It’s also concerning that additional practices hadn’t gained more traction, according to the research firms.

Also Read | Biden budget sets aside $750 million for SolarWinds response

Over half of the organisations have not yet gotten their heads around the Solar winds hack, despite the high level of concerns voiced by the security team. Only 47% chief information security officers (CISO) have briefed their boards about the SolarWinds hacks and their organisation's position, according to Splunk and the Enterprise Strategy Group.