EY: Firms need to raise cybersecurity readiness

MOST companies in the Asia-Pacific are poorly prepared for cybersecurity breaches, and as more threats become focused - targeted attacks on individual firms - an intrusion would likely catch most victims flat-footed, according to cybercrime watchers at EY (formerly Ernst & Young). Massimo Cotrozzi, assistant director of fraud investigation and dispute services for EY in the UK and Ireland, said that in his work with companies, he has discovered that the level of cybersecurity preparedness has not been up to snuff.

The past eight years or so has seen companies building protection plans covering hypothetical threats. But companies that are leading in security are talking about the impact on their businesses due to threats over the past few years, rather than discuss risk.

"In general, companies that have found that they were compromised at some point, didn't realise they were at the time," he said, adding that this knowledge gap is due to the lack of skilled security specialists that companies can hire.