CYBERSECURITY SP ENDING FOR FIRMS JUMPS 15%

Big banks and other financial firms are spending 15 per cent more this year to defend computer networks from cyber criminals, and the pandemic and work-from-home arrangements are probably spurring further increases, a survey found. Average spending per employee was budgeted at US$ 2,691, up from US$ 2,337 in 2019, according to the poll conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center Some firms have budgeted as much as US$3,322 per employee for cybersecurity, up from the US$ 3,000 maximum last year. That would translate to about US$ 850 million annually for Jpmorgan Chase & Co. and almost US$900 million for Wells Fargo & Co., based on their June head count figures.