75% CEOs will be personally liable for cyber-physical security incidents by 2024, says report

As cyber crimes increase worldwide at an unprecedented rate, 75% of CEOs would be personally liable for cyber-physical security incidents by 2024, a Gartner report said.

Due to the nature of CPSs (cyber-physical systems), such incidents can even lead to physical harm to people and environmental disasters.

The report predicted the incidents will increase in the coming years owing to a lack of security focus.

“Regulators and governments will react promptly to an increase in serious incidents resulting from failure to secure CPSs, drastically increasing rules and regulations governing them,” said Katell Thielemann, research vice president at Gartner.

By 2023, the financial impact of CPS attacks will reach more than $50 billion.

The costs for organisations in terms of litigation, insurance, compensation, regulatory fines and reputation loss will be significant, the report stated.