Dive Brief:
- Almost half of company executives expect an increased number of cyber incidents targeting accounting and financial data during the next year, according to a poll from the Deloitte Center for Controllership.
- If those concerns are realized it would indicate a significant rise in threat activity. More than one-third of executives said their organization’s accounting and financial data was targeted during the previous 12 months.
- The poll also revealed a disconnect between the level of concern and the level of preparedness across organizations. Just 1 in 5 respondents said their accounting and finance teams work closely with their cybersecurity teams.
Dive Brief:
The survey points to an inconsistent level of collaboration between the cybersecurity teams and the accounting and finance departments at most organizations.
Two in 5 of executives said their respective teams only work together on an as-needed basis, with an inconsistent amount of collaboration. Though, the same number of executives said they expect the level of collaboration to increase in the next year.
The poll of 1,100 C-suite and other executives was conducted during an October 26 webcast from the Deloitte Center about the growing role of cybersecurity inside finance organizations.
A number of attacks in recent years have specifically targeted proprietary corporate information on finances or mergers and acquisitions.
In May, researchers from Mandiant disclosed a campaign by a threat actor called UNC3524, which targeted specific M&A information. The attacker would sit quietly inside the targeted organization’s computer systems for up to 18 months before targeting corporate email accounts.
