Businesses spending a higher percentage of technology budgets on cybersecurity, Sophos research reveals

Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, recently released additional findings from its survey report titled, “The Future of Cybersecurity in Asia Pacific and Japan,” in collaboration with Tech Research Asia (TRA). The report revealed that businesses are increasingly prioritising budgets for cybersecurity.

According to the report, 11% of technology budgets have been dedicated to cybersecurity in 2022, an increase from 8.6% in the previous year.

The Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) organisations have identified threat hunting as a key consideration for strengthening cybersecurity defences. Most organisations (90%) undertook threat hunting to bolster their cybersecurity capabilities in 2021; of those that did, 85% stated the approach is critical to their company’s overall cybersecurity capabilities.

Previously, Sophos’ State of Ransomware Report revealed that 72% of APJ organisations were hit by ransomware in 2021, up from 39% in 2020. With this in mind, it’s important organisations review their cyber strategies regularly and address the gaps.” said Aaron Bugal, global solutions engineer at Sophos.

Organisations are reactive and passive in their approach to cybersecurity 45% of companies surveyed haven’t made a change to their information or cybersecurity approach in the last 12 months, indicating a passive attitude to cybersecurity: something that must be addressed as a priority.

The driving factor behind a change in strategy is an attack or breach, leading to an “attack, change, attack, change” cycle, a trend observed since 2019.

Half (49%) of the respondents are planning to make changes in the next six months due to experiencing an attack, highlighting the current reactive approach organisations take to managing their security.