More than 70% of CEOs globally are planning to increase their cybersecurity budgets in 2020, after online threats rank as the seventh biggest concern for business leaders in new study.
The Conference Board surveyed 750 CEOs and nearly 800 C-Suite executives across Europe, Latin America, China, Japan and the US on the biggest worries they have in 2020.
A recession was the biggest fear of CEOs in the US, Europe and China, while ranking as the second biggest worry for those in Latin America and Japan. CEOs in Latin America were more concerned with the uncertainty around global trade and in Japan the biggest fear was the tight labour market.
In the US, the risk of recession increased from being the third biggest fear in 2019 to the number one spot, dethroning cybersecurity, which dropped to the sixth largest concern.
Despite the fall in fear around cybersecurity, over 70% of CEOs around the world are planning to increase their cybersecurity budgets in 2020. Companies might be spending more on security, but nearly 40% of respondents stated their organizations lack a clear strategy to deal with the financial and reputational impact of a cyberattack or data breach.
The Conference Board Chief Economist Bart van Ark said, “The ongoing concerns about recession risk among business leaders reflect the slowing economy of the past year and the uncertainties about the outcome of the trade disputes and other policy concerns.
“However, given a slightly better outlook for the global economy and an easing of trade tensions, we anticipate that a drumbeat of negative sentiment – which can become a self-fulling prophecy – can be avoided, and that we will see more confidence about business prospects in 2020.”
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