Cyber-attacks remain a top threat, followed by data breaches and unplanned IT and telecom outages, BCI Horizon Scan report revealed. Every organization faces different risks throughout their lifetime. These can range from minor threats to large crises that can threaten your reputation and ultimately your business. Being prepared is critical for an organization to mitigate risks, by having a comprehensive risk management system in place this will help minimize the impact on a company's reputation, business and brand. The 5th annual BCI Horizon Scan report is a research study produced in association with BSI, assessing business preparedness and measuring the feelings of business continuity and resilience professionals from 568 organizations globally. It provides an insight into the top 10 threats facing businesses today. "2015 saw a number of high profile businesses across the world hit by cyber-attacks, so it is reassuring to see that so many are aware of the threat it poses. Our research finds it to be the top concern in six out of the eight regions surveyed" said Theuns Kotzé, Regional Managing Director, BSI Middle East and Africa. "However, we remain concerned to see that businesses are still not fully utilizing the information available to them to identify and remedy weaknesses in their organizational resilience. It is difficult to conceive that either investors or employees will be reassured that the leaders of the organizations they trust are making strategic decisions without an effective evaluation of risk. "Ultimately, organizations must recognize that, while there is risk, and plenty of it, there is also opportunity. Taking advantage of this means that leaders can steer their businesses to succeed by not just surviving, but thriving" said Kotzé. For more than a century BSI has been challenging complacency to help organizations perform better, reduce risks and achieve sustainable growth. BSI pioneered standards to support better risk management including an Information Security Management System (ISO/IEC 27001), Business Continuity Management System (ISO 22301), CSA Star Certification (cloud security) and a Risk Management System (ISO 31000). Formed in 1901, BSI was the world's first National Standards Body and, over 100 years later is globally recognized as the champion of best practice. BSI is also responsible for originating many of the world's most commonly used management systems standards and currently has 37,384 standards in their portfolio.— SG
