New Research Supports Think Tank Assertions on Cyber Resilience Planning

Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ: MIME), a leading email and data security company, today announced it published the e-book, Strengthen Your Defenses Against Cybercrime: Cyber Resilience Planning for Email, that voices insights and prescriptive advice from members of the Cyber Resilience Think Tank. This first-of-its-kind Cyber Resilience Think Tank was first hosted by Mimecast at the RSA Conference 2017, bringing together top industry experts to discuss the meaning of cyber resilience.

In this e-book, Think Tank members weigh-in on the critical need for organizations to build a cyber resilience strategy for email, amid a turbulent cybersecurity landscape.  New research from Mimecast and Vanson Bourne, presented in the e-book, reveals too many organizations aren’t making cyber resilience a priority.

Strengthen Your Defenses Against Cybercrime discusses how organizations continue to struggle with business disruptions due to the rise of advanced threats, technical failures and human error. While the definition of ‘cyber resilience’ can vary across industry, this research indicates that organizations acknowledge the need for a plan yet only 30 percent of respondents have adopted a complete cyber resilience strategy, with about one third still in the early stages of development or planning. The e-book functions as a play book for organizations looking to understand how to effectively prepare a cyber resilience plan and includes specific insights for email-borne threats.

The research also validates that organizations are struggling to keep pace with the rise of email-borne threats. More than half of the 800 IT decision makers and C-level executives surveyed globally have seen the volume of cyberattacks increase this year including ransomware, phishing and impersonation fraud. However, less than 20 percent of participants surveyed feel completely confident in their ability to spot and defend against cyberattacks.

“Cyber resilience is not taken seriously enough, despite the published evidence identifying the growing impact of cyber risk. There is a notable gap between perception and reality when it comes to the impacts of poor cyber resilience planning,” said Helen Rabe, head of information security – strategy, risk and compliance at Costa Coffee. “We are currently outmatched and don’t have the capabilities to fight back. I have accepted the fact that cyberattacks will get in, despite my layered defenses. However, I work closely with my business on how to mitigate so they are prepared to act and aware of the implications.”

“Cyber resilience is not just an IT issue, it’s a business issue. An organization must take a layered approach to build an effective cyber resilience plan to protect business data against email-borne threats,” said Neil Murray, chief technology officer at Mimecast. “Mimecast’s first Cyber Resilience Think Tank was a meeting of the minds. It was great to bring together some of brightest experts in cybersecurity and collaborate on what organizations need to do to build a comprehensive cyber resilient strategy.”