Diligent Finds 90% of Surveyed U.S. Businesses Are Adopting a Heightened Cybersecurity Posture

Following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed cybersecurity rules, Diligent, the global leader in modern governance providing SaaS solutions across governance, risk, compliance, audit and ESG, found that 90% of organizations have recently adopted a heightened cybersecurity posture. Research from a new national survey of more than 450 senior risk, compliance and security professionals in the U.S. reveals that data breaches are considered the top risk for revenue growth facing businesses today.

“The role of the risk professional is more important and complex than ever. From data breaches and third party security risks to rising concerns with ESG and regulatory compliance, leaders are tasked with balancing risk and purpose while also continuing to drive performance. Yet nearly half of organizations struggle to capture a complete view of risk,” said Brian Stafford, CEO of Diligent. “To overcome this challenge, risk professionals require intelligent software that gives them an integrated view of risk so they can deliver assurance across the business.”

The findings provide unique insights into what U.S. risk, security and compliance professionals see as the most pressing challenges facing their organizations currently:

Cybersecurity as a top risk for revenue growth

• Forty percent of respondents cited a data breach as their organization’s top risk for revenue growth. This was followed by security and fraud (37%) and economic slowdown/recession (37%).
• As a result, 90% of respondents say their organizations have adopted a heightened cybersecurity posture recently.
• Social engineering is the biggest cybersecurity risk organizations are experiencing (17%) followed by cloud vulnerabilities (13%) and third-party exposure (11%).

Data management and security as top reputational and compliance risks

• Forty percent of businesses identify the ability to protect sensitive information as a top reputational risk, followed by social responsibility (38%) and data breaches (37%).
• Nearly half (45%) of businesses say data management is their organization’s top compliance risk. This is followed by corruption or fraud (42%) and workplace health and safety (41%).
• Thirty-eight percent of organizations say supply chain issues are the top overall risk, followed by changes in regulations (36%) and social responsibility (35%). Thirty-three percent see market volatility as a top overall risk.

Insufficient systems and poor communication with the board are challenges

• Around 42% of respondents say the inability to connect data from disparate systems to paint a holistic picture of risk is a significant challenge for their company.
• Similarly, nearly 40% say the inability to automate workflows is a significant risk management challenge.
• Nearly 40% of respondents say they struggle with lack of buy-in from the board, and 37% say the inability to communicate top risks up to the board is a significant challenge.

Diligent’s platform enables organizations to apply an integrated risk management approach to gain a complete view of their risk posture and prioritize and respond to the highest risk areas. Built-in dashboards and customizable reporting allows risk professionals to access meaningful insights and provide the board and executives with the knowledge to make data-driven decisions with confidence.

View additional findings from the survey here.

About Diligent

Diligent is the global leader in modern governance, providing SaaS solutions across governance, risk, compliance, audit and ESG. Serving more than 1 million users from over 25,000 customers around the world, we empower transformational leaders with software, insights and confidence to drive greater impact and lead with purpose. Learn more at diligent.com.

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