Survey data from the APAC McAfee Cyber Risk & Resilience Report found that Singapore has the highest estimated costs stemming from cybersecurity incidents in the APAC region over the last 12 months.
Up to 60% of Singapore respondents believed they could estimate the cost of cybersecurity incidents, with an estimated cost of US$1,268,620 incurred per breach, per company affected.
This is more than double that of the next highest APAC country, Indonesia, where respondents estimated costs of US$574,649 per breach, and more than four times the APAC average estimated costs per breach at US$298,812.17.
85% of respondents in Malaysia believed they could estimate the costs of cybersecurity incidents, companies estimated an average of US$22,971.
“Singapore organisations have been embarking on digital transformation efforts, and it is great to see that they are placing much more importance on cybersecurity. This is a good start, but we need to move beyond just implementing cybersecurity as part of digital transformation and in reaction to regulations,” said Jonathan Tan, managing director, Asia, McAfee.
He suggested that organisations should, instead, be planning with cybersecurity in mind, regardless if they are rolling out a new product or moving to the cloud, and not as a reaction or afterthought.”
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Other data points
- 86% of APAC respondents believe cybersecurity incidents pose high- to medium-impact costs to their businesses. Businesses that consider cybersecurity a high-impact cost estimate more than US$500K in costs for each incident
- APAC businesses are all seeking partners to aid in digital transformation. All of the organisations surveyed are turning to outside organisations to assist in their digital transformations, including system integrators (58%), vendors (57%), and consulting firms (52%)
- Regulations have kickstarted cybersecurity efforts. 89% of organisations are investing more in security due to regulation, no matter how mature their organisation is
The McAfee Cyber Resilience Report (MCRR) surveyed 480 cybersecurity decision-makers across eight Asia-Pacific countries including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.