Determinants of Cyber Expense: Exploratory Evidence from Indian Firms.

Cyber challenges have come to the forefront in recent times. This raises the question as to what are the factors driving cyberspending by firms. To inform this debate, we utilize data on Indian firms for the year 2023. Using two definitions of cyber – narrow and broad - we find that size, age, liquid assets, profitability and leverage are the key drivers of cyber expense. These findings hold after accounting for ownership and industry level controls. Viewed from this standpoint, the study sheds light on the drivers of cybersecurity spending in manufacturing and services firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]