TRENDS & STATS

ENTERPRISE SECURITY CHALLENGES HEIGHTENED BY WORK-FROM-HOME SPIKE

Sudden changes in priorities, poor network visibility and lack of time cited as key issues for security professionals struggling to cope with new norms

Traditional approaches to securing the network are amplifying challenges in the face of budget constraints and an increasingly remote workforce. This is among the findings of an international market research project from independent research agency Vanson Bourne. The study was conducted on behalf of Juniper Networks.

A clear and pertinent picture emerged from the data: network security is an ever-present and growing headache for IT teams, especially in the current climate of mass-scale remote working. The solution they overwhelmingly yearn for appears to lie in integrated visibility within the network for more accuracy providing data-driven context to faster security tools, automation and widespread policy enforcement to overcome these challenges.

Top highlights from the Vanson Bourne study are as follows: • Ninety-three percent (93%) of Middle East survey respondents (Ninety-seven percent 97% globally) admitted that they are specifically experiencing ongoing challenges when attempting to secure their organization’s network effectively. It bears repeating that the IT challenges present before the sudden increase in remote work have been amplified significantly against a burgeoning threat landscape, populated by prolific, highly motivated ‘bad actors’ who constantly innovate and take advantage of every opportunity to thrive and remain undetected. Meanwhile, IT and Security professionals are further challenged with the need to balance necessary business demands against security. • Eighty percent (80%) of Middle East survey respondents (Eighty-six percent 86% globally) felt that they need to improve network reliability and performance compared to registered from Middle East. Especially in the current climate of enforced remote working for larger-than-usual employee numbers, the network is the ‘beating heart’ of any organization undergoing or sustaining digital transformation. To be fully effective, a security deployment must be fully integrated into the network it protects, rather than an uncoupled overlay. Moreover, on average forty-five (45%) of IT employees in Middle East (forty-seven 47% globally) are absorbed by ‘keeping the lights on’ in the network instead of pursuing innovation.

• Eighty percent (80%) of Middle East survey respondents (Eighty-seven percent 87% globally) seek a security solution to give better visibility across existing apps, reducing false positives, and improving threat response times. The underlying subtext is that IT/Security teams lack time, which makes the pursuit of false positives frustrating and may lead to costly human error-driven mistakes. The net result is that timely mitigation of genuine threats could be hampered. As a result, team leaders crave real-time visibility into their organization’s data and network, adding context to better understand what is happening. They are also keen to balance the demands of delivering compliance with managing security risks effectively. However, the prospect of wholesale ‘rip-andreplace’ to introduce integrated security is not viable nor attractive.

• Forty-five (45%) of Middle East respondents stated that their organization positions IT security as a cost center rather than as a value-driving asset. In contrast ninety-nine percent (99%) stated that they had been obliged to spend money on breach mitigation in the last twelve months, with the average cost being more than US$221,123. This suggests that organizations do not fully realize how vulnerable their networks are to attack and that reluctance to invest in intelligent security is counter-productive.

o Globally, Sixty-three percent (63%) of respondents stated that their organization positions IT security as a cost center rather than as a value-driving asset. In contrast ninety-seven percent (97%) stated that they had been obliged to spend money on breach mitigation in the last twelve months, with the average cost being more than US$276,000

• Ninety-six percent (96%) of Middle East survey global respondents (Ninety-five percent 95% globally) are working with multiple vendors in pursuit of their overall security deployment goals. This suggests that IT and Security professionals are pragmatic in their attempts to navigate a successful course through all the conflicting challenges in their path, including compliance, costs, departmental preferences and demands.

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