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As technology innovates and advances, so do cybercriminals. Cybersecurity is thus of the utmost importance to all businesses, across all sectors. Gartner’s 2018 CIO Agenda Survey collected data from 3,160 CIOs in 98 countries, from all major industries. 95% of CIOs said that they expect cybersecurity threats to increase over the next three years, but only 65% currently employ a cybersecurity expert. Many cybercriminals are able to adapt to constantly changing environments.

“In a twisted way, many cybercriminals are digital pioneers, finding ways to leverage Big Data and web-scale techniques to stage attacks and steal data,” according to Rob McMillan, Gartner’s Research Director. 35% of respondents asserted that their company has already implemented some form of digital security. An additional 36% disclosed that they are actively planning to employ these security methods in the short term.

Back in March, IBM reported that the vast majority of businesses currently lack a formal cybersecurity response plan. Nevertheless, Gartner has forecast that 60% of security budgets will be in support of detection and response capabilities by 2020.

“CIOs can’t protect their organisations from everything, so they need to create a sustainable set of controls that balances their need to protect their business with their need to run it,” McMillan commented. He added “taking a risk-based approach is imperative to set a target level of cybersecurity readiness.”

Many CIOs perceive growth and market share as the biggest business priority in 2018, according to the survey. Growth can entail more diverse supplier networks, alternate working methods, as well as different products, services and channels. There are dangers in growth, however, and McMillan insists that “growth factors will introduce new attack vectors and new risks that they’re not accustomed to addressing.” He warned that “cybersecurity threats will affect more enterprises in more diverse ways that are difficult to anticipate.”

BeyondTrust recently reported that while 90% of enterprises engage with at least one next-generation technology, an overwhelming 78% are worried about security breaches. Indeed, McMillan added that Gartner’s findings are also “quite shocking” but capture “the heart of a worldwide problem: the frequency, severity and sophistication of attacks is growing faster than organisations can keep up.”

Take a look at EM360’s Top 10 women in cybersecurity