site.btaOne in Two Bulgarian Companies Neglect Cybersecurity

Half of the companies in Bulgaria do not regard cybersecurity as a high priority, Eurobarometer found in a survey which was presented by the European Commission on Wednesday.

According to 23% of the respondents in Bulgaria, this issue is relatively insignificant (up from 17% EU-wide), and 27% see it as insignificant (compared to 9% in the EU). Cybersecurity is a high priority for 17% (nearly half of the 32% in the rest of the Member States), and 30% attach importance to this (down from 39% in EU27). 

Twenty-one per cent of companies in Bulgaria said they outsource cybersecurity, compared to 51% of those surveyed in the rest of the EU. In 62% of the cases in Bulgaria, employees handling cybersecurity at the company are assigned other tasks, too (up from 57% in the EU). Eighty-four per cent of the Bulgarian companies said they have not searched for candidates to fill cybersecurity vacancies over the past year (compared to 78% EU average).

The commonest reasons cited by Bulgarian companies for the small size of cybersecurity staff are difficulties in finding qualified candidates, lack of applicants, budget constraints, and the need of continuous training to keep abreast of rapidly changing technologies. According to 65% of the Bulgarian companies, all this poses a certain risk, 15% see it as posing a certain risk, and 12% do not see it as a risk.  

As many as 81% of the Bulgarian companies did not arrange cybersecurity training for their staff because they found it unnecessary. The same percentage of companies said that their security staff have not undergone specialist training in cybersecurity.