Report: US companies experience 42 cyber attacks per year

Keeper Security released its second annual 2022 US Cybersecurity Census Report, mapping the evolving cybersecurity landscape based on expert insights from more than 500 IT decision makers in US companies. This year’s findings clearly show that while cybersecurity is a top priority, staying one step ahead of attackers is an ongoing challenge – and many companies aren’t keeping up.

According to survey respondents, US companies face 42 cyberattacks each year. Of these, about three cyber attacks are successful. The vast majority of respondents expect the total number of attacks to increase in the coming year, and 39% predict that the number of successful cyber attacks will also increase.

Meanwhile, the financial, reputational and organizational consequences of these attacks are also increasing, with companies unable to perform critical operations and losing contracts, among other harmful consequences. For organizations where money was stolen as a result of a cyber attack, the average amount was more than $75,000, and 37% of organizations lost $100,000 or more.

Investments in cybersecurity fall short

Despite these alarming statistics, a third (32%) of US IT leaders still lack a management platform for IT secrets, such as API keys, database passwords and privileged credentials.

One stolen password can lead to a devastating cyber attack. Still, less than half (48%) of respondents say they plan to invest in password management, network-based threat visibility tools, or infrastructure secret management.

A majority (71%) of respondents report hiring new cybersecurity employees in the past year, and 58% are increasing their cybersecurity training.

But as cybersecurity investments grow, cybersecurity is not yet a high enough priority for the organization. IT leaders admit that their organizations lack transparency in reporting cyber incidents. Nearly half (48%) of respondents from IT leaders said they were aware of a cyber attack in their organization, but kept it to themselves.

This lack of transparency will allow cybercriminals to thrive. Companies need to invest in cybersecurity, education and cultural shift tools to protect their organizations in the changing threat landscape.

Methodology

To develop its second annual US Cybersecurity Census Report, Keeper Security, in collaboration with Sapio Research, surveyed 516 IT decision makers in the US.

Read the full report from Keeper Security.