Thought Leadership
While European companies operate under strict data protection guidelines such as GDPR, and soon NIS 2, a recent analysis reveals serious security gaps in the handling of access data. The Business Digital Index reveals worrying cybersecurity practices.
A new study by Cybernews’ Business Digital Index paints a sobering picture of IT security in European companies. Particularly alarming: almost a third of all employees continue to use passwords that have already been compromised in previous data leaks. This practice opens the door to cybercriminals.
The analysis of several hundred European companies reveals alarming cybersecurity figures. Overall, 48 percent of the companies surveyed only achieved a D or worse rating for their security efforts. The details show that 21 percent were given a grade of “F”, while a further 27 percent only achieved a “D”. On the positive side, 13 percent of companies achieved the top grade of “A” and 20 percent achieved a grade of “B”.
The comparison between the technology and financial sectors is remarkable: while tech companies still perform comparatively well with 40 percent in the top ratings (A or B), financial institutions only achieve 35 percent in these categories. This is particularly surprising as the highest security standards would be expected from financial institutions in particular due to their sensitive customer data.
In the study of almost 300 European companies, the SSL configuration emerged as the biggest weak point. The analysts identified over 50,000 problems in this area. At the same time, more than 56,000 compromised company credentials were discovered.
