Companies are planning to increase their investments in information security against the background of growing financial losses from cyber incidents. This trend was revealed in the recent Kaspersky’s IT Security Economics report.

Kaspersky IT Security Economics is an annual report that unpicks the changes in budgets, breaches and business challenges affecting IT Security decision makers. It is based on interviews with IT and IT security professionals working in organisations of various sizes and industries.

The survey was conducted across 27 countries in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa region (including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkiye, the UAE), Latin and North America.

According to the research, companies plan to increase their IT security budgets by up to 9%. The median cybersecurity budgets for large enterprises were $5.7M with $41.8M allocated for IT generally, while SMBs invested $0.2M in IT security from a median IT budget of $1.6M.

Possible reasons for the increased investment can be found in the analysis of financial losses from cyber incidents. Large enterprises experienced an average of 12 incidents this year, spending $6.2M to recover from them — 1.1 times higher than the budget allocated for IT security overall.

Despite the greater resources and advanced security infrastructures, the sheer scale and complexity of large enterprise organisations make them more susceptible to costly breaches.

While these enterprises are often better equipped to detect incidents quickly, the time required to fully respond and mitigate these threats can span for hours, underscoring the challenge of managing widespread, complex IT environments.

As for SMBs, these organisations experienced an average of 16 incidents this year, while spending $0.3M for remediation, which is 1.5 times higher than their overall IT Security budget.

SMBs are the most disproportionately affected group in terms of budgetary impact. They often lack robust cybersecurity policies and procedures, which leaves them vulnerable to incidents involving employees, public cloud misconfigurations, and high-level permissions.

In the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa region organiations of all sizes reported to have experienced on average 13 incidents within a year.

“This data illustrates the continuation of the current trend of increasing cybersecurity spending across all market segments. This growth is driven by at least three key factors.

“Firstly, and obviously, the constant growth in the complexity of cybersecurity threats forces companies to adopt more advanced solutions to enhance the detection of attack traces and automate responses.

“Secondly, increasing concerns from governments regarding digital sovereignty leads to the emergence of new regulations and regulatory requirements and, as a result, increased expenses.

The third factor influencing the growth of cybersecurity budgets and costs is the constant increase in salary expectations for professionals in various cybersecurity fields,” comments Veniamin Levtsov, Vice President, Center of Corporate Business Expertise at Kaspersky.

To protect companies against a wide range of cyber threats, Kaspersky recommends:

  – Use all-encompassing solutions, such as those from the Kaspersky Next product line, that provide real-time protection, threat visibility, advanced investigation and response capabilities for companies of any size and industry.

  – Adopt a managed security service such as Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response if companies lack qualified InfoSec professionals. It will provide the necessary expertise and give them the best possible advanced automated security services. Thanks to its analysis of corporate data gathered every day, in real time, 24/7, it can shield businesses against sophisticated cyberattacks.

  – Educate your employees. Dedicated training courses can help, such as those provided in the Kaspersky Automated Security Awareness Platform.

Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in partnership with Digital Jewels Africa (DJA),  IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) firm, organized a high-impact workshop recently in Lagos.

The workshop Themed “A Cyber Resilience Table Top Simulation Exercise for Board Members and Executive Management of Banks,” aimed to tackle the increasing cybersecurity challenges in Nigeria’s banking industry. It equipped senior executives and board members with effective tools and strategies to combat evolving cyber threats.

In his address, the First Vice President of CIBN, Mr. Dele Alabi, FCIB (representing the President and Chairman of Council. Prof. Pius Deji Olanrewaju, Ph.D,FCIB, emphasized the critical role of cybersecurity in today’s digital economy.

“As leaders in the banking sector, it is our responsibility to stay proactive in identifying and mitigating cyber risks. This workshop provides the tools and insights necessary to strengthen our cyber resilience,” he stated.

Also speaking at the workshop, Mrs. Adedoyin Odunfa, the Group Managing Director and CEO of Digital Jewels Africa, delivered an engaging presentation highlighting critical issues in the ever-changing cyber risk landscape. She discussed emerging threats, including third-party vulnerabilities and insider threats, and stressed the importance of safeguarding data, which she referred to as the “Digital Crown Jewels” of modern organizations.

“Enhancing our cyber resilience posture is essential to making it harder for attackers and minimizing their rewards,” she noted.

Mrs. Odunfa further proposed actionable strategies to bolster resilience, such as adopting automated controls and fostering collaboration within the banking ecosystem. “This initiative represents a major leap in empowering Nigeria’s banking leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect their institutions, ensuring continued trust and stability in the financial sector,” she added.

Participants engaged in dynamic discussions about the implications of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and explored strategies to address AI challenges, including job displacement, privacy concerns, and security risks. The workshop emphasized the importance of strategic governance frameworks, talent development, and collaborative efforts to fortify defences against cyberattacks.

The 2nd part of the session involved a closed door immersive incident response simulation which provided deep insights and practical actionable next steps in handling cyber incidents within Banks.

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that Nigeria generated N1.78 trillion in value-added tax (VAT) revenue during the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, representing a 14.16 percent increase compared to the N1.56 trillion collected in the second quarter (Q2) of the same year.

The report highlights a significant year-on-year growth, with Q3 2024 VAT revenue showing an 88 percent increase from the N948 billion recorded in Q3 2023. VAT, a consumption tax managed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), is distributed among the three tiers of government through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

“On the aggregate, Value Added Tax (VAT) for Q3 2024 was reported at N1.78 trillion, showing a growth rate of 14.16% on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N1.56 trillion in Q2 2024,” the NBS stated.

According to the breakdown, local VAT payments accounted for N922.87 billion, foreign VAT payments contributed N448.85 billion, and import VAT totaled N410.62 billion in Q3 2024.

The report also noted variations in growth rates among sectors. “On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Human health and social work activities recorded the highest growth rate with 250.39%, followed by the activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use with 102.09%,” NBS said.

Conversely, some sectors experienced declines. “Water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities had the least growth rate with –41.92%, followed by activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies with –36.14%.”

In terms of sectoral contributions, manufacturing led with 22.21 percent, followed by information and communication with 20.89 percent, and mining and quarrying activities at 18.90 percent. On the lower end, activities of households as employers and extraterritorial organizations each contributed 0.01 percent, while water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities accounted for 0.03 percent.