The top CIO cybersecurity concerns are...

Cybersecurity is keeping most CIOs up at night.

Virtually all (97%) U.S.-based CIO respondents expressed serious concerns about at least one cybersecurity threat, according to a global survey of CIOs and network engineers from Opengear, a Digi International company.

The primary cybersecurity concerns highlighted included malware (42%), spam and phishing (34%), social engineering (31%) and insider threats (30%). While only 23% of U.S. CIO respondents reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks as a threat, 38% of U.S. network engineer respondents reported concern for this specific type of attack, which Opengear analysis indicates is most likely due to their close proximity to the network. 

In addition, six in 10 (59%) surveyed U.S. engineers said that insufficient investments are enhancing the risk of cyberattacks and/or downtime, which Opengear says suggests that lack of budget spent in areas such as software upgrades and network upgrades leaves organizations more vulnerable to attack.

Other findings include a high priority for 97% of surveyed CIOs in the U.S. and 88% of CIO respondents globally indicating that business continuity is a high priority And 27% of surveyed U.S. network engineers are actively contemplating leaving their current roles due to inadequate funding, about 30% higher than the global network engineer respondent average of 21%.

“The skills shortage and insufficient investment in networks are two factors that have combined to encourage cybercriminals to breach businesses,” said Gary Marks, president at Opengear.

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The survey encompassed responses from 502 CIOs and 510 network engineers in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Australia.