Cyber Resilience Under Fire: CISOs Face Mounting Costs and Longer Downtime
According to a new report from Absolute Security, the average cost of recovering from a cyberattack has reached $2.5 million, with downtime extending up to two weeks for nearly 20% of organizations surveyed. This alarming trend underscores the increasing difficulty Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) face in ensuring resilience amidst evolving threats.
The Growing Cyber Resilience Challenge
The report, based on insights from 750 CISOs across the US and UK, reveals significant organizational struggles in restoring operations after a disruptive event. A staggering 57% of enterprises require between three and six days to recover from incidents affecting mobile and remote endpoints, while only 65% of organizations currently prioritize resilience strategies—a sharp drop from the previous year’s 83%.
“There is simply no way to avoid the inevitable—at some point every organization will face an attack or IT incident that takes down the business,” said Christy Wyatt, President and CEO of Absolute Security. Despite adopting the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) definition of cyber resilience, many enterprises fail to achieve full recovery within 24 hours, exposing critical vulnerabilities in their infrastructure.
Why This Matters for the Telecom Industry
The telecom sector, which forms the backbone of digital communication, faces heightened risks from prolonged downtime caused by breaches or internal software failures. For instance, 55% of respondents reported that endpoint device attacks rendered operations inoperable in the past year. This has direct implications for service providers tasked with maintaining uptime for millions of users globally.
As malicious actors grow more sophisticated and internal system failures rise (53% of respondents fear security control failures in the coming months), the telecom industry must adopt stronger resilience plans. Failure to do so could jeopardize critical services, lead to revenue losses, and erode consumer trust in a competitive market already strained by global technological demands.
Future Outlook: Bridging Strategy Gaps
Experts see a pressing need for organizations to pivot from a prevention-first mindset to one that prioritizes rapid recovery. Gartner’s recent data shows that enterprises prepared with advanced recovery solutions cut downtime costs by 40%, signaling the financial advantages of investing in restoration capabilities. Yet, a stark gap persists between boardroom expectations and what security teams can realistically achieve, with 61% of CISOs calling out the unrealistic “zero breach” expectations from executive leadership.
Harold Rivas, CISO at Absolute Security, emphasized this evolving role: “Our mandate has shifted from pure defense to absolute resilience. Organizations that fail to adapt risk irreparable harm, including financial penalties and regulatory scrutiny.”
Additionally, resilience strategies need wider technology integration, such as leveraging AI-driven threat intelligence and improved endpoint visibility. These innovations will form the cornerstone of defense mechanisms as CISOs navigate the challenging path ahead.
What’s Next for Enterprises?
As cyberattacks become an inevitable part of doing business, organizations must transition from reactionary frameworks to proactive resilience plans. The telecom industry, in particular, has much to lose from prolonged downtimes, requiring investment in cybersecurity innovations and collaboration across technological ecosystems.
How prepared is your organization to handle the next inevitable breach? Share your thoughts in the comments or reach out to our experts at the upcoming Cyber Security & Cloud Expo in Amsterdam, California, and London, where cybersecurity leaders will discuss strategies for the future.
