Data leaks are the most feared type of cyber-threat

Customer data leaks are at the top of the list when it comes to cyber-threats companies fear the most. Following a number of well publicized large-scale breaches involving hundreds of millions of stolen records, and considering the heavy regulatory fines that can be imposed, this is not surprising at all.

Most feared types of cyber-threats (n=325)

The second most feared type of attack is losing or otherwise compromising a company’s “crown jewels” – their intellectual property in digital form. Again, no surprises here – for many companies such an attack would lead to heavy financial and reputational losses.

Among the cyber-threats that have only recently become more relevant are attacks on manufacturing environments (which may cause massive damages and loss of life), hacking of connected devices (further complicated by their notorious lack of the basic security features) and ransomware attacks, which are especially dangerous for smaller companies, where losing access to business data effectively brings the whole organization to a grinding halt.