More than half of SEA-based companies need IT security updates to beat data breach cases

02/18/2021 04:22:25 PM

Looks like more than half of the companies in Southeast Asia would have to catch up with today's security updates as Kasperksy has reported that 54 percent of organizations in Southeast Asia (SEA) have work to do regarding the crucial task of installing the latest software versions in order for them to minimize the risk of the data breach.

The same study called  How businesses can minimize the cost of a data breach showed that 38% of SMBs (small and medium businesses) and a whopping 48% of enterprises from SEA are still working with unpatched operation systems. Add to that is the 33% of SMBs and 43% of enterprises from the region that are still guilty of using out-of-date software. 

“It may seem costly for companies to renew their software or opt for their legal versions especially at this time of an unprecedented crisis. It is, however, an investment that can save you money in the long-run. In fact, our research showed that enterprises using obsolete or unpatched systems will pay $437k more in case of a data breach, a 126% increase compared with the projected cost of $354K for those companies without such outdated technologies,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

Though maybe a time-consuming task, small and medium businesses within the region could save 9 percent of the attack costs if they use updated and legal software, with $94k being the toll of a single data breach against a small-to-medium-sized organization with obsolete operating systems.

In its press release and the study prior, Kaspersky cited the top reasons why organizations in SEA remain guilty of using such tools are:

• Some line employees refuse to work with new software and devices, so we made an exception for them (57%)
• We have in-house apps that cannot run on new devices or operating systems (52%)
• They belong to C-level staff and we exclude them from our update plan (45%)
• We don't have enough resources to update everything at once (17%)

Understanding the current cash flow dilemma of companies in SEA, Kaspersky offers savings for its latest Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response Optimum (KEDRO) solution for new and existing customers valid on 10-999 nodes across the region until March 31, 2021.

For KEDRO new and add-on: 

• 1 Year License – 33% savings
• 3-Year License – 40% savings

That being said, the cybersecurity firm is offering this promo. Interested SMB owners can find out more about this promo here. 

In order to save money and minimize the risk of data breaches as a result of software vulnerabilities, Kaspersky is suggesting the following measures as prescribed in their press release:

• Ensure the organization is using the latest version of its chosen operating systems and applications, with auto-update features enabled so that the software is always up to date. 
• If it is not possible to update software then organizations are advised to address this attack vector through a smart separation of vulnerable nodes from the rest of the network, along with other measures. 
• Enable the vulnerability assessment and patch management feature in an endpoint protection solution ]. This can automatically eliminate vulnerabilities in infrastructure software, proactively patch them and download essential software updates. 
• It is important to boost security awareness and practical cybersecurity skills for IT managers, as they are at the frontline of IT infrastructure updates. A dedicated Security for IT Online training course can help. 
• For critical IT or operational technology systems, it is important to always be protected regardless of any available software updates. This means they should only enable activity that is predetermined by the purpose of the systems. KasperskyOS [supports this concept of cyber-immunity and can be used to build IT systems that are secure by design.

The “How businesses can minimize the cost of a data breach” report is the second part of Kasperksy's IT Security Economics 2020 series and is available here. To read the first part, “Investment adjustment: aligning IT budgets with changing security priorities”, please download it from the Kaspersky IT Security Calculator web page.

Author: slickmaster | © 2021 The SlickMaster's Files