Why we need to bridge the gap between IT operations and IT security

Thycotic released the findings from its 2018 VMworld survey of more than 250 IT operations professionals which looked into their experiences in using cybersecurity tools on a daily basis, including their concerns and preferences.

According to the findings, even though IT operations personnel help influence the selection of cybersecurity tools, nearly two out of three say complexity in deployment (30 percent) and complexity in daily use (34 percent) are the biggest hindrances in security tool effectiveness.

“Security tools that are complex to deploy and difficult to use on a daily basis can negatively impact the tool’s effectiveness,” said Joseph Carson, chief security scientist at Thycotic. “If IT Ops does not adopt and even embrace a security tool, it risks becoming a waste of time and money while failing to adequately protect critical information assets.”

Additional findings from the survey revealed that IT Ops were involved in implementing a wide variety of cybersecurity solutions over the past year – an indication of how essential they are to the “people” and “process” roles of a successful security strategy. Nearly half the respondents cited involvement in antivirus/antimalware tools and multi-factor authentication projects while another one third listed vulnerability scanning, privileged access management, and removing administrator privileges.

When asked specifically about the most important attributes for privileged account management tools, survey participants cited “Easy to Deploy” as No. 1 (26 percent) just ahead of Automation (25 percent) – along with Integration with other technologies (11 percent) and a cloud deployment option (10 percent). For least privilege enforcement tools, Easy to Deploy (23 percent) was considered the most desirable attribute, closely followed by automation (21.5 percent), and a cloud deployment option (15 percent).

“Recognized as a top cybersecurity priority in 2018 by analyst firm Gartner, Privileged Account Management is fast becoming a priority for cyber security and IT Ops teams at many organizations, as seen from the results,” added Carson. “With more than 80 percent of breaches today involving compromised credentials among IT and business users, IT operations teams must ensure the business stays up and running smoothly so that workers can get the information they need, when they need it.”