Cybersecurity – Corporate’s Constant Top Risk

The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (Chartered IIA) has seen cybersecurity rank as its top risk for the third year straight. But their survey has also brought new dangers to light with the recent surge of COVID-19 seeing disasters and crisis preparedness ranking as a new top five risk. 

The results came about after a comprehensive survey of over 570 Chief Audit Executives. Of these, 79% labelled cybersecurity as one of the greatest corporate risks that they had to deal with, whereas 27% labelled it as the single greatest risk. This growing fear of having inadequate cybersecurity has seen a surge with the advent of remote working as individuals and companies are now all the more reliant on technology, making them that much more susceptible to viruses, phishing activities, and malware practices.

Of course, the coronavirus has had no small impact on the corporate world, and this was evident by 34% of respondents naming disasters and crisis preparedness as an emerging top risk. 

This is not to say that the corporate world has forgotten about the other threats that it faces, no, not at all. As the world economy teeters on the verge of a recession, businesses are being subject to falls in demand and a struggle to maintain their liquidity. These concerns have resulted in financial risks shooting up the ladder with a staggering 40% of respondents naming it as a top risk.

Financial risks saw a 40% increase within just a year, and fraud and financial crime risks followed suit, seeing a sizeable 21% increase from last year. 

Understandably enough, health and safety as a business risk also gained precedence, with 17% of respondents naming it as a top risk during these corona times. Shockingly, this is a 70% increase compared to last year’s figure of just 10%. 

As the world sinks into an environmental downfall, the corporate sector has also started to see climate change and environmental sustainability as a rising risk. 22% of respondents labelled it a top risk, an entire 8% up from last year’s 14%. However, the growing concerns surrounding this area, only a meagre 6% of CAEs had concrete plans to put efforts into bettering the matter.

Executives around the world are preparing to cater to the newfound risks that the coronavirus pandemic has brought along with it. As the pandemic soars, cybersecurity risks, among others, are on the rise as they take on new uninhibited forms. 

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Click here for more information: https://www.iia.org.uk/media/1691380/risk-in-focus-2021-report.pdf