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Cybersecurity: Canalys warns of “mass extinction” of businesses

The analyst firm Canalys has warned of a “mass extinction” of businesses that failed to spend more on cybersecurity. It comes after more data was breached in the last 12 months than in the last 15 years combined. Ransomware attacks were found to have surged with hospitals being specifically targeted. Due to lockdown, many businesses have implemented business continuity measures at the expense of cybersecurity, further compounding the problem of cybersecurity.

Commenting on the new report, Canalys Chief Analyst Matthew Ball said:

“Cybersecurity must be front and center of digital plans, otherwise there will be a mass extinction of organizations, which will threaten the post-COVID-19 economic recovery. A lapse in focus on cybersecurity is already having major repercussions, resulting in the escalation of the current data breach crisis and acceleration of ransomware attacks.”

While Canalys says more needs to be done in cybersecurity spending, it did say that cybersecurity investment was higher than other segments in the IT industry last year. Cybersecurity spending grew to $53 billion, up 10%. Areas that outperformed cybersecurity were business continuity and workforce productivity, with cloud infrastructure services growing 33% and cloud software increasing 20%.

A graph showing record security breaches in 2020

Looking at individual firms, Zoom saw its revenue jump 300%, Microsoft Office 365 maintained double-digit growth, there was a record number of notebook PC shipments, and Logitech saw webcam sales boom as people began making more Zoom calls. Wi-Fi router sales were also reported to have grown 40% with the shift to working from home.

While all these things are important, Canalys ultimately wants businesses to increase spending on cybersecurity because not doing so could ultimately break a business due to the amount it would cost to recover.

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