Information and communications technology multinational Cisco notes in its 'Security Outcomes Report, Volume 3: Achieving Security Resilience' report, that the adoption of zero-trust, secure access service edge, and extended detection and response technologies all resulted in significant increases in cybersecurity resilience outcomes.

The report, which involved 4 700 participants across 26 countries, identified seven data-backed success factors that, if lacking, placed organisations in the bottom ranks of cybersecurity resilience performers and, if present, boosted organisations into the top ranks of resilient businesses.

Of the organisations surveyed, 62% had experienced a security event that impacted business. The leading types of incidents were network or data breaches, at 51.5%, network or system outages, at 51.1%, ransomware events, at 46.7%, and distributed denial of service attacks, at 46.4%, Cisco highlights.

These incidents resulted in severe repercussions for the companies experiencing them, along with the ecosystem of organisations they do business with. The leading impacts cited include information technology and communications interruption, at 62.6%, supply chain disruption, at 43%, impaired internal operations, at 41.4%, and lasting brand damage, at 39.7%.

"With stakes this high, it is no surprise that the main objectives of security resilience for security leaders and their teams are to prevent incidents and mitigate losses when they occur," Cisco says in the report.

As part of the seven success factors that improve cybersecurity resilience, the report found that security is a human endeavour and leadership, company culture and resourcing have an oversized impact on resilience.

Specifically, organisations that report poor security support from the C-suite scored 39% lower than those with strong executive support. Further, businesses that cultivate an excellent security culture scored 46% higher on average than those without.

Additionally, companies that maintain extra internal staffing and resources to respond to incidents resulted in a 15% boost in resilient outcomes.

The Cisco report also identified that businesses need to take care to reduce complexity when transitioning from on-premises to fully cloud-based environments.

“Companies whose technology infrastructures are either mostly on-premises or mostly cloud-based had the highest, and nearly identical, security resilience scores. However, businesses that are in the initial stages of transitioning from an on-premises to a hybrid cloud environment saw scores drop between 8.5% and 14%, depending on how difficult the hybrid environments were to manage,” the report highlighted.

Further, adopting and maturing advanced security solutions saw significant impacts to resilient outcomes, it says.

Companies that reported implementing a mature zero-trust model saw a 30% increase in resilience score compared to those that did not. Advanced extended detection and response capabilities correlated to an incredible 45% increase over organizations that report having no detection and response solutions.

Additionally, converging networking and security into a mature, cloud-delivered secure access services edge boosted security resilience scores by 27%.

The previous year's study focused on the architectures, technologies, and operational strategies that lead to more resilient businesses. Findings included benefits in proactively updating and integrating security technologies, leveraging cloud-based architectures, and investing in business continuity.

The most recent report picks up with a focus on the cultural, environmental and solution-based factors that businesses leverage to achieve security resilience.

“The Security Outcomes Reports are a study into what works and what doesn’t in cybersecurity. The ultimate goal is to cut through the noise in the market by identifying practices that lead to more secure outcomes for defenders,” says Cisco executive VP and security and collaboration GM Jeetu Patel.

“This year's report focused on identifying the key factors that elevate the security resilience of a business to among the very best in the industry.”