UK firms say £6.6bn annual security testing cost too high and are struggling to cope with the extra costs
The report is based on a market snapshot survey of 400 UK businesses of various sizes across the healthcare, energy, finance, retail and manufacturing industry sectors.
Some 77% of businesses polled by security testing platform provider Avord said the cost of testing is too expensive, with the security testing market dominated by consultancies that provide services to businesses at up to twice the daily rate of independent testers.
The need to use external consultants is driven by the fact that only one in five UK businesses with more than 750 employees have sufficient in-house skills and knowledge to carry out security testing.