More than half of in-house counsel report their organizations are bumping up their cybersecurity budgets, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel Foundation's The State of Cybersecurity report.
The report gathered responses from more than 1,000 in-house counsels at 887 organizations in 30 countries. Respondents hold roles including chief legal officer and general counsel. Here are six key points on data breaches from the report.
1. More than half of respondents (57 percent) believe the legal department will have a larger role to play in cybersecurity matters over the coming year.
2. Of the lawyers who report being at a company that has experienced a data breach, just 19 percent say the organization's cybersecurity insurance policy fully covered the pursuant damages.
3. One-third of general counsels and chief legal officers report their organizations have retained outside counsel in the case a cyberattack happens.
4. Nearly half of in-house counsel who have worked for companies with 5,000 or more employees report they work or have worked at a company that experienced a data breach.
5. Approximately three-fourths of respondents (74 percent) say minimal, moderate or significant changes were made following a breach. Just 15 percent of respondents say their organizations made no changes.
6. Here are the top data breach causes, as reported by in-house counsel:
• Employee error: 24 percent
• Inside job: 15 percent
• Phishing: 12 percent
• Access through a third party: 12 percent
• Lost laptop or device: 9 percent
• Application vulnerability: 7 percent
• Malware: 7 percent
• Ransomware: 1 percent
• Operating system vulnerability: Less than 1 percent