Cyber-attacks cost businesses an estimated £200bn ($315bn) over the past 12 months, according to new research from business advisory firm Grant Thornton International.
The firm poled 2500 business leaders in 35 countries to compile its
International Business Report (IBR) and found 15% have been targeted by attackers during the period.
That figure rose even higher for organizations in Europe (19%) and North America (18%).
However, perhaps a sign of the maturity of these markets, the estimated loss of business revenues was significantly lower in the EU ($62.3bn) and North America ($61.3bn) than APAC ($81.3bn).
The research revealed that, on average, a successful online attack will cost around 1.2% of business revenues. Yet only 52% of those surveyed said they have a security strategy in place.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the financial services sector was most concerned about the risk of cyber-attack with three-quarters (74%) of respondents claiming online attacks are a threat to the business.
