IN DATA

The State of European Data Security

Digital technologies are transforming European businesses, but security is not keeping up. We look at the findings from the 2019 Thales Data Threat Report – Europe Edition to find out how data security is being perceived and managed in the region

A third of European companies have suffered a breach

Across the EU, the rate of breaches at any time is more or less consistent with the rest of the world, at only one percent higher than the global average. However, there is significant variation by country. Out of the four individual countries Thales focused on, the UK and Germany had the lowest incidence of breaches, at 54%, while Sweden reported the highest, at 77%.


This is believed to be evidence that while the UK and Germany have been popular targets for some time, and so have seen improved defences, all countries are now considered “fair game” meaning Sweden and to a lesser extent The Netherlands must play catch up when it comes to cybersecurity.

Breach incident rates at any time

EU Average

61%

Global Average

60%

Sweden

77%

Netherlands

60%

UK

54%

Germany

54%

Threats to data security are wide-ranging

When it comes to the specific cybersecurity threats, European businesses are concerned about a wide selection of issues. However, there are some notable differences in which risk factors are perceived to be the most severe when compared to the global average.

Greatest perceived data security threats

EU

Global

Cybercriminals

63%

56%

Cyberterrorists

48%

52%

Hacktivists

48%

46%

Partners with internal access

44%

44%

IT administrators

43%

46%

Competitors 

39%

40%

Executive management

39%

37%

Service provider accounts

38%

39%

Nation-states

37%

34%

Ordinary 

employees

36%

35%

Contractor accounts

32%

35%

Other IT accounts

31%

34%

Confidence in security is limited

While many European companies are deploying new technology as part of an ongoing drive towards digital transformation, the level of confidence in the security of these projects is notably lower than the rest of the world.


Across the EU, only 55% of companies believe their new technology deployments are very or extremely secure, compared to a global average of 66%. This number is even worse in some parts of the EU, with only the UK having a similar rate of confidence to the global average.

Security level of new technology deployments

Very / extremely secure

Moderately secure

Not / a little secure

EU

55%

27%

18%

Global

66%

22%

12%

UK

66%

20%

14%

Sweden

61%

26%

13%

Germany

49%

32%

19%

Netherlands

45%

31%

24%

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