More than half of large Irish companies have been targetted by a cyberattack in the last 12 months, according to the latest State of Cyber-Resilience research.
However, just 5 per cent of breaches were successful in that period.
The study, carried out by Accenture, found 58 per cent of large Irish companies have been the victim of a recent attempted cyberattack, while 85 per cent say the cost of trying to stay ahead of attackers is "unsustainable".
The increasing threat and awareness surrounding cyberattacks has led an overwhelming majority of businesses to invest in cybersecurity, with 82 per cent stating they have increased such spending in the past year.
Lack of funding (43 per cent), unclear accountability (45 per cent), and a lack of accurate and timely information regarding the company's cash positions (48 per cent) are among the reasons given for businesses failing to reach their optimum cybersecurity levels.
"While the Irish organisations in our survey are far quicker than before at detecting a breach, mobilising their response and getting operations back to normal, cyber adversaries are getting more resourceful at finding new ways to carry out their attacks," group technology officer at Accenture Security, Jacky Fox says.
"Even a global pandemic can’t stop cyber criminals—if anything, the vulnerability and uncertainty was a breeding ground for new attacks," she adds.
The research also highlights a number of steps which companies can take to increase their cyber-resilience, such as protecting their business from a loss of data, embedding security into cloud initiatives, and measuring the maturity of their cybersecurity programme at least once a year.
