The question is no longer whether a Spanish company will be cyber-attacked or not, but when it will fall under the crosshairs of criminals. For now, 96% of Spanish companies have been the target of extortion in the last 12 months, without specifying whether the aggression has blocked the company or not, according to the Hiscox 2024 Cyber Preparedness Report. The same report highlights that two thirds of Spanish organizations (66%) have seen an increase in the number of times they have suffered a cyber attack and only 12% have seen a decrease.
He Hiscox Cyber Preparedness Report 2024. shows an intensification of the main consequences of cyberattacks on Spanish organizations. Although for the second consecutive year the main one is once again the financial loss due to payment diversion fraud – understood as the diversion of funds through the fraudulent use of the mail -, in the last 12 months more than half (55%) indicated this result, while in the previous year it was 38%.
In addition, experts have noticed an increase in the incidence of ransomware cyber attacks, in which the use of systems or equipment is prevented and then a ransom payment is demanded. And it is that 38% of Spanish companies have suffered a cyber attack of this style in the last 12 months, compared to 23% the previous year.
52% of Spanish companies already have cyber insurance as a first protection measure
This same trend is observed in the same way with the rest of the main consequences of cyber attacks. So, Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were experienced by 51% of Spanish organizations in the last 12 months, compared to 23% last year. Also the improper use of computer resources, indicated by 53% this year and 23% the previous year; non-ransomware virus outbreaks at 46% compared to 23% last year; the loss of encrypted data (in which no data has been exposed) with 33%, 20 percentage points more than in 2022; and the loss of unencrypted data (in which data may have been exposed) with a 35% incidence, while in 2023 it was 14%.
According to the report, cyber insurance is already one of the most important preventive measures for Spanish organizations, since its hiring has grown considerably in the last 12 months. And, although last year 30% claimed to have purchased one of these products and 14% planned to purchase it, this year, More than half (52%) say they already have independent cyber insurance.
“The fact that almost all Spanish companies have been the target of cyber attacks, regardless of whether they were successful or not, shows us that the problem of cyber threat is not a mere trend, but a true reality for the entire fabric Spanish business. For this reason and taking into account that the economic consequences can be very significant for the viability of businesses, it is more important today than ever to redouble efforts in terms of prevention and training of all employees,” he says. Nerea de la Fuente, Director of Underwriting at Hiscox Iberia.
This project, carried out by Hiscox in collaboration with the B2B consulting firm Man Bites Dog, has been carried out through interviews with a sample of 2,150 professionals responsible for the cybersecurity strategy of their companies. Among them were 400 interviewees from the United States and 250 from each of the following countries: United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Interviews were conducted between August 12 and September 2, 2024. This report includes comparisons with studies from previous years, mainly with Hiscox’s 2023 Cyber Preparedness Report.
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