By Brian Pinnock, vice president of sales engineering, EMEA, Mimecast
In todays digital-first world, companies remain locked in a titanic battle to protect their people, data and work. According to industry reports, cybercrime is expected to grow by 15 per year to reach US10,5trillion in ill-gotten gains by 2025. Considering the global cybercrime industry was worth only US3 trillion in 2015, this astonishing growth represents the greatest transfer of wealth in human history. This increase in the financial impact of cybercrime is not only a global phenomenon but significantly impacts South African organisations. The cost of data breaches for local companies has reached R53 million up from R49 million in 2023.
Defending against growing attacks
Organisations have responded by investing in strengthening their cyber defences 90 of companies in Mimecast's latest State of Email Collaboration Security 2024 report now have a formal cybersecurity strategy. However, eight in 10 fell victim to ransomware, 41 experienced more email-based threats compared to the previous year and 39 saw a rise in phishing attacks.
