Organisations are failing to take steps to defend against cyber attacks

Over a third (36%) of organisations fear the risk of a security breach or incident due to an incompatible application on the latest version of Windows, according to new research of UK and US CIOs commissioned by Cloudhouse, the leader in application compatibility packaging and configuration management solutions.

In addition, over a quarter (26%) of businesses are also concerned about the risk of breaching regulatory compliance due to exactly the same reason. Despite these fears, more than a third (34%) of businesses only audit their IT assets for security and risk compliance on a quarterly basis or even less often.

Additionally, only 30% perform continual monitoring of the general security of their IT assets, with nearly a quarter (23%) only performing this quarterly or less often. Complacency in monitoring and ensuring application compatibility could however prove detrimental to businesses, with sophisticated methods such as ransomware and malware among the major security threats facing businesses.

“Despite fairly widespread awareness of security threats among a number of organisations, many are failing to take the appropriate steps to mitigate the risk posed by incompatible applications. With the cyber landscape increasing in complexity and attacks becoming more sophisticated, it’s critical for businesses to not only make the move to an up-to-date and supported version of Windows but also ensure that their applications make the leap successfully with the assistance of supporting tools,” said Mat Clothier, CEO and Founder of Cloudhouse.

Ransomware in particular is emerging as one of the most prominent cyber risks, with eight in ten (80%) businesses concerned about the threat it poses. Close behind is the fear of password exploitation (64%), cross-site scripting (63%), and the danger posed by malware, with 61% of businesses citing it as a concern to their operations.

The findings further revealed that there is no one consistent approach among organisations when it comes to assessing the security of their IT assets. Of those that utilise technology, the most popular proved to be active change monitoring and management (37%) and real-time endpoint security scanning tools (36%), with a variety of other tools being used by approximately a third of organisations.