[German]I still have a report from the security researchers at CyberNews from the end of 2024, which looked at cyber security at companies in Europe and the USA. The surprising finding for me was that European companies suffer more security incidents from cyber attacks than US companies.
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The first insight, which I am sure many of our readers will share: Despite the growing threat of cyberattacks, many companies are failing to strengthen their security measures.
According to the Cybernews Business Digital Index, 65% of the North American companies surveyed rated their cyber security measures as D or worse. In Europe, the figure is 48% of companies.
Evaluation by CyberNews
Below you will find detailed information on the digital security situation of companies in Europe and North America.
Only 7% of North American companies received an A grade
Statistics from the Business Digital Index show that 21% of European companies received an F grade and 27% a D grade. In North America, the situation is even worse: 34% of the companies surveyed worldwide received a grade of F and 31% a grade of D.
However, there is also a positive trend in Europe: 13% of companies received an A grade and 20% a B grade for their cyber security efforts. Worryingly, only 7% of North American companies have A-rated protection and 8% received a B grade.
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Broken down by sector, technology companies in Europe showed slightly better data security than financial institutions. Of the technology companies, 40% achieved the top grade (A or B), while 45% received a poor grade (D or F). The financial sector fared worse, with 35% receiving A or B ratings and 46% receiving a D or F.
Looking at North America from an industry perspective, financial companies are better than healthcare organizations when it comes to data security. Only 3% of healthcare organizations received an A grade, compared to 9% of financial organizations. However, these figures are no cause for celebration, as the majority (34%) of financial organizations received a D, and 45% received an F in healthcare.
Data breaches at companies: 34% in Europe, 32% in North America
The Business Digital Index shows that the most common security problem is related to the configuration of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Over 50,000 problems were identified in Europe and over 150,000 in North America.
In addition, North American companies lost over 430,000 pieces of corporate data, almost eight times more than in European countries where companies lost over 56,000 pieces of corporate data.
The index data shows that companies in Europe collectively have over 2000 critical and high-risk vulnerabilities. In comparison, companies in the US and Canada have a combined total of almost 8000 critical and high-risk vulnerabilities.
In addition, 34% of European and 32% of North American companies have high-risk vulnerabilities and have recently been affected by data breaches.
Furthermore, 30% of employees in Europe and 29% in North America are reusing previously breached passwords, making it even easier for cybercriminals to gain access to the corporate network.
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