Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has established in its latest survey that more than half of all organizations lack confidence in their cybersecurity systems. The situation seems to be heightened by the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks. In places like Australia, ransomware attacks are sharply on the rise, going by recent disclosures.

In its 2016 Annual Security Report, Cisco paints a gloomy picture of the global cybersecurity situation. The company’s findings include growing confusion among enterprises buying security systems.

As much as spending on cybersecurity is on the rise, not many of those building security around their data have faith in what they are paying for.

55% of organizations lack confidence

According to Cisco, only 45% of organizations have confidence in their cybersecurity measures. That means that a whopping 55% of organizations simply spend their money on security products but they don’t think what they are buying makes them secure enough.

What is the cause of such pessimism? Companies are increasingly losing faith in security measures they implement because they see hackers becoming more sophisticated and relentless in their attacks. Hackers have been able to recalibrate their attacks to avoid detection if a target happens to seal a loophole they intended to exploit.

Companies’ abilities to patch their systems and keep cybercriminals away is increasingly becoming more diluted.

Popular cybercrimes

Ransomware cyberattacks are on the rise. This type of attack happens when attackers encrypt a data storage device such as a hard drive and demand payment to release the data. Many organizations are losing millions of dollars through ransomware breaches. Usually, a window pops up asking the victim to pay a certain amount of money to redeem their stolen data.