According to a new research study from Accenture, more than half (55%) of large companies are not effectively stopping cyberattacks, finding and fixing breaches quickly, or reducing the impact of breaches.

Based on a survey of more than 4,700 executives globally, Accenture’s State of Cybersecurity Resilience 2021 study explores the extent to which organizations prioritize security, the effectiveness of current security efforts, and how their security investments perform.

The study also reveals that four in five respondents (81%) believe that “staying ahead of attackers is a constant battle and the cost is unsustainable” — an increase from 69% in last year’s survey. At the same time, while 82% of survey respondents increased their cybersecurity spending this past year, the number of successful breaches — which include unauthorized access to data, applications, services, networks or devices — jumped 31% over the previous year, to 270 per company, on average.

Kelly Bissell, who leads Accenture Security globally, says, “Our analysis reveals that organizations too often focus solely on business outcomes at the expense of cybersecurity, creating greater risk. While getting the balance right isn’t easy, those who have a clear view of the threat landscape and a strong alignment on business priorities and outcomes achieve greater levels of cyber resilience.”

The report highlights the need to extend cybersecurity efforts beyond a company’s own walls to its entire ecosystem, noting that indirect attacks — i.e., successful breaches to an organization through the supply chain — continue to grow. For instance, despite two-thirds (67%) of organizations believing that their ecosystem is secure, indirect attacks accounted for 61% of all cyberattacks this past year, up from 44% the prior year.

• strike a balance between cybersecurity and business objectives;
• report to the CEO and board of directors and demonstrate a far closer relationship with the business and CFO;
• often consult with CEOs and CFOs when developing their organization’s cybersecurity strategy;
• protect their organization from loss of data;
• embed security into their cloud initiatives; and
• measure the maturity of their cybersecurity program at least annually.