Cybersecurity teams hampered by economic downturn

TechRepublic reports that more cybersecurity vulnerabilities have been reported by 50% of organizations amid layoffs and reductions in security spending brought about by the economic downturn during the past year. Seventy-five percent of companies noted the adverse impact of reduced budgets and frozen security investments on cybersecurity management, and even though 84% of those that had increased vulnerabilities were worried about breaches' financial and reputational damages, 39% and 40% either reduced or plan to cut their security teams, respectively, according to a HackerOne survey. "Whenever there are times of high anxiety, such as an economic downturn coming off of a pandemic, bad actors are at their best... I think it's a real mistake when companies start cutting back on their budget around cybersecurity, especially during these times," said Sumo Logic Chief Security Officer and Senior Vice President of IT George Gerchow during a recent HackerOne event. Meanwhile, a GitLab survey showed that more organizations have been employing DevSecOps and are exploring artificial intelligence and machine learning to bolster efficiencies.