SEB: Companies increasingly concerned about the risks posed by cyber threats

Cyber security in business has become an everyday issue; and cyber attacks are a cause for concern about the threat to business development, according to the Survey of the CFOs of large Baltic companies conducted by SEB* among CFOs of large Baltic companies. Growing cyber risks are a cause for concern for 16% of companies in Latvia this year (last year: only 6%), with the unpredictability, variability and expansion of cyber attacks cited as the biggest threat.

Cyber attacks are increasingly perceived as a threat to the development of companies in the Baltic states. While last year only 6% of CFOs in Latvia, 8% in Estonia and Lithuania cited this as a concern for the future of the company, this year this concern has risen to 16% in Latvia, 15% in Lithuania and 11% in Estonia. More than half of respondents in Latvia (59%), Lithuania (51%) and Estonia (61%) admitted that the biggest concern was the unpredictability and variability of cyber threats, as well as the fact that cyber threats were becoming more complicated.

“Growing cyber threats and fraud are perceived as a major risk and challenge. The CFO survey results show that, unlike understandable and manageable risks such as regulatory compliance or operational risks, cyber threats are unpredictable and therefore difficult to understand and proactively respond to. On a positive note, more than 70% of respondents stated that responsibility for cyber security issues lies with one of the upper management levels of the organisation. However, there are still quite a number of organisations that do not see cyber risk as a business-critical issue and delegate responsibility to the IT department,” says Ints Krasts, a member of SEB Management Board member on the survey data.

75% of companies in Latvia, 83% of companies in Lithuania and 79% of companies in Estonia consider cyber security to be a high risk that corresponds to the level of responsibility of the company’s management (the area of cyber security is entrusted to the top management level of the company). On the other hand, 17% of companies in Lithuania, 16% in Latvia and 12% in Estonia have delegated this risk outside the top management level of the company, most often to IT employees.

*Once a year, SEB conducts a survey among the CFOs of the largest companies in the Baltics to determine their assessment of the business environment, key challenges and other issues. The survey was conducted in September 2024 and 302 companies from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia took part. SEB has been conducting such a survey since 2014.