Security practices need to evolve in order to handle complex threats

There is no one-size-fits-all security solution to address the threat landscape today’s businesses face. Each organization has unique security obstacles and obligations.

Billions of dollars have been invested into IT security solutions and increasing annual security budgets has been an imperative. In fact, 98% of business respondents reported they will spend over a million dollars in 2017, per a global study by the Ponemon Institute. 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.

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 Not helping is that nearly 70% of business respondents said that some of their existing security solutions are outdated and inadequate.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

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.

“There are too many security technologies on the market today that add complexity. Security today is not about the number of security technologies your business invests in. It’s about investing in the right security technologies that will help protect applications and data, no matter where they’re used or stored. Businesses looking to get ahead of the cyber security threat landscape need to invest in solutions that have security built into them. When security is addressed from the start, we can protect more sensitive business information,” said Stan Black, CSO at Citrix.

Managing security challenges

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.