To help businesses measure their IT security spend against that of similar organizations, Kaspersky Lab has updated its Kaspersky IT Security Calculator. In addition, the cybersecurity firm has also unearthed the new strategic role that IT security is starting to play in business. With IT budgets under pressure to transform and improve multiple areas of an organisation, and business leaders needing to demonstrate return on every investment, the onus has long been on IT security to prove its worth. But proving ROI has traditionally been a struggle for IT professionals, who need to balance budget limitations while staying ahead of the dynamic threat landscape. A new report from Kaspersky Lab has indicated that IT security is at last gaining more of a strategic role among the business community – with findings suggesting it is starting to be treated as an investment, rather than simply a cost-center. The company has found that the growing costs of recovering from a cybersecurity incident are forcing business leaders to give IT security a larger portion (24%) of their overall IT budgets in the Middle East, Turkey and South Africa. In addition, both enterprises and very small businessesexpect their IT security budgets to grow by 18% in the next three years. There's no doubt that the costs of a cyber incidentare harmful, and this alone is a compelling argument for further investment in IT security. According to Kaspersky Lab's findings, 74% of businesses have faced some form of cyberthreat in META, with the average cost of the incident amounting to $444 816. But, withyet more dynamic threats and compliance requirements emerging, from complex IT security supply chain issues to the GDPR, and more corporate data outside of the IT security team's control, the question remains–how can IT security professionals decide on the most appropriate investment for their business? To make the question of IT security investment less complex, Kaspersky Lab has launched its latest update to the IT Security Calculator. The calculator, which is based on research into cybersecurity investment within a cross-section of different-sized businesses in a range of sectors and regions, makes it possible for IT security professionals to benchmark their cybersecurity strategy against others in similar circumstances to them. Based on data from 6,687 business respondents worldwide, the calculator allows users to input information about their businesssize, region, industryand IT security spend. It then tells them how they measure up compared to industry averages – providing transparency into the security measures taken by other similar businesses, the major threat vectors they encounter, how much money they have lost as a result, and what can be done to avoid being compromised in this way. According to the calculator's data, the top five threats currently faced by businesses of all sizes across all sectors in the META region are: the physical loss of devices or media (53%);viruses and malware (53%);the data breach (48%); inappropriate IT resource use by employees (44%) and DDoS attacks (39%). Maxim Frolov, VP of Global Sales, Kaspersky Lab says: "IT security professionals have a difficult job. They are constantly having to juggle the need to protect their businesses with the best possible cybersecurity measures, with the business requirement for a return on their investments. Yet, with data breaches becoming ever more costly, we are seeing IT security play an increasingly strategic role in business decision-making today." "We have updated our calculator to bring clarity to the issue of IT security investment – the tool is designed to help IT security professionals benchmark their own IT strategies against those of similar businesses; calculating risk and potential threats based on the experiences of others. We hope that this tool will bring IT professionals the insight they need, to get their required investment, and to protect their businesses from the latest and most damaging threats."
