Board directors continue to up their investment in cybersecurity. Seventy-three percent now say their organization requires that third-party vendors meet certain cyber risk requirements—up 30 percentage points from 2016, according to the 2018 BDO Cyber Governance Survey of 145 co-directors at public companies.
This increase in requirements and investment is warranted as manufacturing companies adopt and integrate more advanced technologies into their operations. During 2018, we have seen a 350% increase in ransomware attacks, a 250% increase in spoofing or business email compromise (BEC) attacks and a 70% increase in spear-phishing attacks in companies overall. Further, the average cost of a cyber-data breach has risen from $4.9 million in 2017 to $7.5 million in 2018, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Risks have grown significantly around cyberattacks, information breaches from third-party vendors and information theft (i.e., personal identifiable information, intellectual property and trade secrets).
To further complicate the cyberthreat landscape, the threat actors are increasingly integrating their…
