Most enterprises now running Windows 10, security hygiene no longer optional

Security is galvanizing around the move to Windows 10, the operating system that the majority of companies now run in their organizations, according to the 2018 Enterprise Endpoint Security Survey by Adaptiva.

In the survey, over half of respondents indicated that security hygiene is a priority, listing security configuration management as an action that must be performed every day at a minimum. However, staffing remains a huge obstacle as less than half feel their organization has enough staff to maintain security hygiene on all systems at all times.

“One of the most interesting findings from our survey was that many of the respondents simply don’t have enough time and resources to meet their endpoint security goals,” said Jim Souders, chief executive officer at Adaptiva. “Daily, automated, global security checks and remediations can solve this problem.”

Windows 10 takes over

After a slower than anticipated start, enterprise Windows 10 deployments have achieved critical mass.

• For the first time in the survey’s history, the majority (57%) of respondents reported that their organizations are running most of their computers on Windows 10.
• Approximately 14% of respondents have Windows 10 running on only 10% or fewer of their systems, signaling that some organizations still have a long way to go.

Security hygiene is king

Once a nice-to-have, security hygiene is no longer optional.

• The majority (53%) of survey respondents stated that every endpoint should be inspected daily or even hourly to determine if all software is up to date and the configuration complies with company security policy.
• Ninety percent of respondents reported that maintaining current, compliant security configuration was very or extremely important.
• Two-thirds (66%) of respondents indicated that Windows OS and application patching was the most difficult, with maintaining health of the Windows OS coming in as a close second (44%).

Short staffed

Despite a move to Windows 10 and an emphasis on system hygiene, IT teams continue to struggle.

• Fourteen percent report that they do not have enough team members to meet the security requirements consistently.
• Forty percent feel they are stretched too thin to maintain proper security hygiene at all times.
• For help desks, identifying which systems are out of compliance and remediating those systems take the most time.

The percentage of respondents who feel their staffing level is good or excellent dropped from 55% in Adaptiva’s 2017 Enterprise Endpoint Security Survey to 46% this year. The staffing situation appears to be getting worse while the priority for security configuration management is rising.

Automation is the logical next step

While time is a huge challenge, most respondents believe automation can dramatically reduce workloads.

• Time (27%) was the greatest obstacle to detecting and remediating client health issues, but the lowest item, tools at 22%, was not far behind.
• A strong majority (59%) of respondents believe that more than a quarter of their help desk tickets could be automated.