Veeam Report: Cyber Attacks Main Cause of Business Outages

Today’s IT leaders are feeling less protected and more concerned about their ability to recover and restore mission-critical data, according to research published by data protection and ransomware recovery leader Veeam. 

Respondents to the company’s fifth annual Veeam Data Protection Trends Report said that cyber attacks remain the most common and most impactful causes of business outages, and that while organisations are putting more emphasis on utilising the cloud for major recoveries, only a small percentage believe they’d be able to recover from even a small crisis in under a week.

Ransomware, which continues to be among the top concerns for businesses, is a ‘When’, not an ‘If’. According to Veeam’s report, three-quarters (76%) of organisations were attacked at least once in the past 12 months

Digital transformation is being hampered by cyber attacks

Veeam’s survey ranked protecting against cyber threats and addressing ESG goals as the biggest inhibitors to IT modernisation and digital transformation initiatives. These factors scored higher than usual struggles related to skills, economic concerns and organisational issues, due to the amount of effort and resources that were being diverted from digital transformation or IT modernisation investments.

Data protection, which has been suggested to be a barrier to the adoption of cloud services, is another area of focus in Veeam’s research. The report also found that data protection budget increases are accelerating, expected to grow by 6.6% in 2024. Overall, 92% of organisations expect to spend more on data protection in 2024 to continue to prepare against cyber attacks as well as the changing production landscape that requires different approaches to data protection.

“Ransomware continues to be the biggest threat to business continuity,” said Dave Russell, VP of Enterprise Strategy at Veeam. “It’s the number one cause of outages today, and protecting against it is hampering digital transformation efforts. Furthermore, although companies are increasing their spend on protection, less than a third of companies believe they can recover quickly from a small attack. 

“The findings in this year’s Veeam Data Protection Trends Report highlight the need for continued cyber vigilance, and the importance of every organization to ensure they have the right protection and recovery capabilities. It’s why Veeam’s mission in 2024 is to keep businesses running.”

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