Ninety-eight percent of business respondents to a survey reported they will spend more than a million dollars in 2017, however, many of the systems and people in place are still not able to handle today’s threats.
Security threats increase as more devices crowd networks and as people have more freedom to work from anywhere, on any device. More devices, especially bring your own (BYO) devices are the new norm, and businesses need to put information security at the top of their priority list to ensure apps and data are secure no matter where they reside or are accessed. On top of this, businesses need skilled staff to plan how they will reduce risk and improve the security of their applications and data.
The global study by Citrix and the Ponemon Institute on IT security infrastructure found that less than half (48%) of survey respondents said their organization has security policies in place to ensure employees and third parties only have the appropriate access to sensitive business information. Not helping is that nearly 70% of business respondents said that some of their existing security solutions are outdated and inadequate.
Top security concerns confirmed in the study:
• Poor security deployments: 70% said their organization had made investments in IT security technology that was not successfully deployed (e.g. shelfware).
• Unapproved and rogue app deployments: 65% of respondents said their organization is not able to reduce the inherent risk of unapproved applications – increasing risk, including from shadow IT.
• Unmanaged data at risk: 64% say their organization has no way to effectively reduce the inherent risk of unmanaged data (e.g. downloaded onto USB drives, shared with third parties, or files with no expiration date).
• Talent pool is small: Only 40% said their organization is successfully hiring knowledgeable and experienced security practitioners.
•
While there’s no silver bullet to fixing security business challenges, survey respondents shared that they believe there are solutions to help better manage security challenges:
• Creating a unified view: 53% percent believe a unified view of users across the enterprise.
• Becoming proactive: 48% percent answered an ability to keep up with new or emerging attacks.
Respondents also shared that some specific improvements can be made to reduce their overall risk:
• Technology improvements: 65% believe an improvement in technologies will improve their overall security posture and reduce risk.
• Staffing investments: 72% say an improvement in staffing will improve their overall security posture and reduce risk