One in ten Galway businesses (10pc ) say just an hour offline would seriously disrupt their operations, while one in twenty (5pc ) report they can’t afford even a minute of downtime. A further 20pc say they could manage only a few hours before feeling the effects, compared to just one in ten (11pc ) businesses in the UK.
This is according to a new survey commissioned by insurance broker and risk management firm Gallagher, which polled 300 business decision-makers across the UK and Ireland, including 100 based in Ireland.
The findings reveal that nine in ten (90pc ) Irish businesses are confident, to varying degrees, that they could recover quickly from a significant cyber-attack. This compares to fewer of their UK counterparts – 76pc of whom voiced the same level of confidence.
Of the Irish organisations asked, nearly six in ten (58pc ) say they feel ‘very confident’, while 32pc are ‘quite confident’. Just one in ten (10pc ) said they were not confident in their ability to bounce back.
Laura Vickers, Managing Director of Commercial Lines in Gallagher, commented on the findings,
“The smooth running of online systems is crucial to most businesses. The degrees to which they can withstand disruption vary, of course. For some businesses, even a minute of downtime can trigger serious disruptions. And while systems may come back online quickly, it often takes much longer to fully restore operations to where they were before the incident.
Recovery requires preparation, robust systems, and the right insurance cover. For businesses that can’t afford to be offline, putting all of these guardrails in place ahead of time is paramount”.
Cyberattack Aftermath – in Ireland and Across the Pond
45pc of Irish businesses say that being offline for a day or less would lead to serious commercial consequences, compared to 40pc of UK firms who said the same.
A greater proportion of UK businesses say they could withstand being offline for two to three days before feeling the impact, compared to Irish organisations (18pc vs 16pc ).
One-third of Irish organisations (33pc ) without cyber insurance say they can’t afford to be offline for even a minute, compared to 7pc of those with some form of protection in place.
One in five women (18pc ) working in Irish businesses believe the commercial brunt of a cyber-attack would be felt immediately, compared to just 3pc of men.
Ms Vickers said that the fact that nearly half of Irish businesses acknowledge that even a day offline could result in significant commercial consequences just shows how crucial it is for businesses to protect themselves. Larger organisations are particularly vulnerable to the impact of even the briefest of disruptions.
The findings clearly show the importance of having cyber insurance in place. Businesses without any form of cyber protection say they cannot afford even a minute of downtime compared to those who have some level of cover in place”.
Recovery Confidence
UK businesses are notably less confident than their Irish counterparts when it comes to recovering from a cyber-attack. While 76pc express some level of confidence, only 20pc say they feel ‘very confident’, compared to 58pc of Irish organisations.
Twice as many UK businesses as Irish report a lack of confidence in their ability to recover, with 20pc saying they are ‘not confident’ compared to just 10pc in Ireland.
Women are less confident than men in this regard. While 94pc of men are confident in their organisation’s ability to recover, this drops to just 63pc among female respondents.
Industry clearly plays a role, with nearly twice as many retail businesses (19pc ) as healthcare organisations (10pc ) admitting they are not confident in their ability to recover from a cyber-attack.
Businesses without cyber insurance are less confident in their ability to recover quickly from an attack. One-third (33pc ) of those without cover say they are ‘not that confident’, compared to just 6pc of those with some form of cyber protection in place.
