Around 51% of businesses have suffered a cyberattack: study

Nearly half of such businesses still have no up-to-date cybersecurity strategies.

Singapore's circuit breaker period forced companies to adopt remote working, but many companies have found themselves short on cybersecurity measures. More than half of the businesses surveyed in a recent Barracuda report have reported at least one data breach or cybersecurity incident since the adoption.

The report also noted that COVID-19 has accelerated the introduction of remote working by at least five years for 67% of organisations in Singapore, with 61% reporting increased productivity and 81% planning to keep remote working even after the pandemic is over.

According to the study, COVID-19 has also been the catalyst for 83% of organisations in Singapore accelerating digital transformation plans in the next six months, in the hope of easing the burdens placed on the traditional business model by remote working.

A key component of this transformation is cloud computing. On average, 78 per cent of Singapore businesses have fast-tracked plans to move all data to a cloud-based model, particularly in the education (89%), IT and telecommunications (88%), manufacturing & utilities (86%), finance (75%), and healthcare (75%) sectors. 79 per cent believe this shift will help reduce overall IT costs to support business growth.

However, results reveal the emergence of security challenges, with 48% of companies expecting an incident to occur in the next month and 64% concerned about unknown threats that could cause business disruption in the next six months.

The report further stated that 48% of businesses do not have up-to-date cybersecurity strategies or solutions in place to cover all of the vulnerabilities posed by full-time remote working. The situation is getting worse as 53% of organisations are allowing employees to use personal email addresses and devices to conduct company work.