Companies are facing an escalation in cyberattacks such as the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that affected Eastern U.S. fuel distribution. Hospital operator CommonSpirit Health disclosed this month an attack that downed systems and disrupted patient care. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it received a record 847,376 complaints in 2021, with potential losses exceeding $6.9 billion.
Corporate CIOs have a role in a range of crucial business initiatives, from the adoption of cloud computing to the use of advanced data analytics and the modernization of productivity, collaboration and commerce platforms that touch on customer and employee experience. Cyber and information security has been at the top of their agenda since 2020.
“You boil it down to the CIO, it is cybersecurity. Absolutely…That is the highest priority,” said Chris Howard, chief of research at technology research and consulting firm Gartner Inc., pointing to the results of the firm’s latest CIO Survey. The results of the annual CIO survey, which included about 2,200 respondents, were announced Monday at the 2022 Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, under way this week in Orlando, Fla.
