New security concerns due to business complexities

It is estimated that in 2016, more than $94 billion will be invested in security solutions, per industry analyst forecasts, yet nearly half of organizations report having had a breach – either internal or external – in the last twelve months.

Why companies are at risk

A global survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute on IT security infrastructure found that 83 percent of businesses around the world believe that they are most at risk because of organizational complexities. Employees are not following corporate security requirements because they are too difficult to be productive, plus policies hinder their ability to work in their preferred manner. It is no surprise that shadow IT is on the rise because employees want easier ways to get their work done.

Employees are putting data on their devices, meaning key corporate information is accessible from any laptop, phone or tablet left sitting at a desk or coffee shop. And data assets are increasing, putting more information at risk, per 87 percent of survey respondents.

What IT pros are concerned about

The results also found that security and IT professionals are truly concerned about their current operations:

• 79 percent of respondents are worried about security breaches involving high-value information.
• The protection of apps and data is more critical than ever, with 74 percent of businesses saying that a new IT security framework is needed to improve security posture and reduce risk.
• 71 percent say there is risk from their inability to control employees’ devices and apps.

“Year after year, traditional security vendors have offered their latest and greatest technology to the enterprise. Each new product has added new layers of people, process, and technology to operations, but very few actually solved the root of security problems by answering questions like, ‘how can information be shared while also minimizing data loss? Can the attack surface be reduced? Why does security depend on the device?’ Only by presenting solutions to these problems, like those from Citrix, can we move forward as an industry toward a future of more secure data, applications, devices and things,” said Stan Black, chief security officer, Citrix.

Planning for the future

• 73 percent say data management, 76 percent say configuration management, and 72 percent say app management are the keys to reducing the security risk over the next two years in building a new IT infrastructure.
• 75 percent say their organization is not fully prepared to deal with the potential security risks resulting from Internet of Things (IoT).

“In every region of the world, businesses must accept the fact that security practices and policies need to evolve in order to deal with threats from disruptive technologies, cyber crime and compliance. The research reveals respondents’ awareness of the need to challenge the status quo of their IT security strategies and consider a new IT security architecture to safeguard their organizations from cyber risks,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute.