Argentine companies plan to increase investment in cybersecurity by 20% this year, in a global scenario of relevance for this activity given that the greater the number of connected devices, the risks of intrusions into corporate systems multiply.
“At the Latin American level, investment in cybersecurity has been growing constantly in recent years, due to the increased dependence on technology in companiesHans Erpel, the cybersecurity manager of the international firm BVS, which operates in Argentina, Chile and Peru, among other countries in the region, told Télam.
He remarked that “digitization is becoming stronger in Argentina and remote work trends that make companies have to increase investment in cybersecurity. It is estimated that growth will be 20% and it will be in the financial sector where it will be strongest.”
According to Veeam Software’s 2023 Data Protection Trends Report, “Globally, organizations expect to increase their data budget by 6.5% in 2023, which is significantly higher than overhead plans in other IT areas (information technology)”.
In dialogue with Télam, Erpel pointed out that cybersecurity is a priority for Argentine companies “due to the greater exposure to cyber risks, Many companies are digitizing their processes and this widens the gaps in the controls that they must comply with.and leave their applications, their platforms exposed to cyber attackers.”
“Although we can also say that in some companies it is a higher priority than in others because they are more aware that a cyber attack can cause them more damage, at the level of their reputation, the loss of data, or loss of production capacity. “added the manager.
In this sense, he pointed out that there are “different levels of maturity of companies to understand the risks to which they are exposing themselvesand this level of maturity is directly related to the level of investment in cybersecurity”.
Regarding the items with greater awareness of risks, or more mature, the businessman said that “in Argentina and the world, they are those items that have the highest risk of suffering cyberattacks for managing sensitive information, complex processes, among others.”
“The financial item; large corporations (energy, gas, mining, etc.); health and government, are the ones that invest the most in cybersecurity“, Erpel listed.
SMEs, also at risk
Cybersecurity is not only a concern of large companies, since as SMEs digitize their processes, for example to be able to do work remotely (from accounting to production processes or stock control), they increase exposure to cyber -criminals.
In Argentina, “there is an offer from technology companies that allows SMEs to source cybersecurity services,” Erpel said.
In this market segment, large multinational companies often have packaged solutions for SMEs, so that they are self-configuring; while a variety of national and/or regional companies offer customized solutions, that is, according to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies.
Asked about the talent trained in this specific field of technology, Erpel said that “there is a shortage of talent, not only in Argentina, but throughout Latin America. According to studies, more than 500,000 cybersecurity specialists are needed in the region.”
The businessman was referring to the organization’s Cybersecurity Workforce Study, prepared by the ISC, an international nonprofit association with more than 280,000 members that trains information security professionals.
According to the Veeam Software report, companies “are increasing budgets to prevent cyberattacks and keep up as production environments continue to diversify across multiple clouds.”
They further warned that “despite growing awareness and preparedness, ransomware is winning: cyberattacks caused the most impactful disruptions to organizations in 2020, 2021 and 2022.”
