![](/m1/en/publications/digital-trust-insights/images/dti-2022-thumb.jpg.pwcimage.370.208.jpg)
The 2022 Global Digital Trust Insights survey of 3,602 business and IT executives, including respondents from across the Middle East, looks at the current cyber landscape and what challenges and opportunities organisations face to simplify and improve their cybersecurity going forward.
Investments are continuing to pour into cybersecurity. Fifty-eight percent of Middle East organisations predict a rise in cyber spending in 2022 compared to 43% last year. More than a third (31%) predict cyber spending hikes of 10% or more; only 10% percent said that last year. Organisations know that risks are increasing with more than 43% expect a surge in reportable incidents next year above 2021 levels.
Already, 2021 is shaping up to be one of the worst on record for cybersecurity. Ever more sophisticated attackers are plumbing the dark corners of our systems and networks, seeking — and finding — vulnerabilities. Whatever the nature of an organisation’s digital Achilles’ heel — an unprotected server containing 50 million records, for example, or a flaw in the code controlling access to crypto wallets — attackers will use every means at their disposal, traditional as well as ultra-sophisticated, to exploit it.
The consequences for an attack rise as our systems’ interdependencies grow more and more complex. Critical infrastructures are especially vulnerable. And yet, many of the breaches we’re seeing are still preventable with sound cyber practices and strong controls.
*Middle East respondents
In an overly complex organisation, it’s easy for the left hand not to know what the right hand is doing — and the consequences for cybersecurity and privacy can be dire. More than 65% of the Middle East respondents say their businesses are too complex, avoidably and unnecessarily so, and nearly as many say complexity poses “concerning” cyber and privacy risks to their organisations especially when it comes to governance of data, data infrastructure and technology applications.
Asked to name the top consequences of operational complexity, our Middle East respondents identified:
Inability to innovate as quickly as the market opportunities offer
Lack of operational resilience or inability to recover from a cyber attack or technology failure
Financial losses due to successful data breaches or cyber attacks.
Businesses are aware of the risks of complexity, and around a third of our respondents have completed enterprise wide streamlining of their operations. However there are still some who are playing catch up with a quarter saying they’ve done nothing at all or are just getting started. But a shift appears to be underway.
To be fair, simplifying cybersecurity can be challenging. Even knowing where to begin can be difficult, especially given the attacks hitting businesses on every front. Asked to prioritise among nine initiatives aimed at simplifying cyber programs and processes, respondents couldn’t choose, allotting near-equal importance to all of them.
Simplifying an organisation takes time, requiring changes in viewpoints and company culture. That’s not easy to achieve, but the payoffs are mighty.