IT Professionals, Take a Security Victory Lap
New survey finds heightened confidence in the face of cyberattacks.
![IT Professionals, Take a Security Victory Lap IT Professionals, Take a Security Victory Lap](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltb2ebbb3a3546f5c1/6538eb7f265901bf4ec35703/Security_Abstract_0.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
IT security professionals should take a moment to celebrate their successes this morning. Penton Media and SolarWinds, the Austin-based IT management software provider, today released the findings of a new IT security preparedness survey that shows we’ve all come a long way, baby.
“The most surprising finding of the survey is just how many organizations are less vulnerable today than they were a year ago, and, on a related note, how many have implemented security technologies and better security training,” said Mav Turner, director, business strategy, SolarWinds.
“The survey data seems to reflect a shifting focus from fear of cyberattack, to the implementation, maintenance and refinement of established and effective security systems,” said Dr. Kristin Letourneau, director of research at Penton.
Read on for five key takeaways and view the whole survey here.
It feels like every time we turn around there’s a new massive security breach being reported. But maybe the message is getting through that no one is safe and we’d better shore up our defenses. The study showed that 55 percent of IT professionals surveyed said their organizations did not experience any security breaches in 2015, compared to 29 percent who did. And nearly one-third said the number of IT security incidents their organizations experienced decreased in 2015; only 20 percent reported an increase.
When it comes to a cyber-attack, IT professionals know that speed is key. More than one-third of respondents said their time to respond to a threat decreased in 2015, and about half said it only takes minutes to detect each of the following typical threats:
SQL injection attacks (47 percent)
Exploitation of known vulnerabilities (50 percent)
Misuse/abuse of credentials (47 percent)
Rogue network device (52 percent)
Security policy violations (47 percent)
Organizations that reported improved security said it came down to a handful of vital security technologies and best practices, headed by endpoint security software with 83 percent of respondents saying it was a critical or very important component of their defenses. Rounding out the top three were patch management software (75 percent) and identity and access management tools (71 percent).
When a bad actor does manage to slip through all your well-laid defenses, the impact can be serious. Of those surveyed whose organizations experienced a security breach in 2015, 52 percent said the breaches were of medium to major severity. And it isn’t just your company information that’s at stake. Nearly three-quarters of the organizations breached in 2015 store customer data, with more than one-third of those storing data on at least 100,000 customers.
While it’s great that we’re becoming wise to our vulnerabilities and starting to play the defensive game, we can’t rest on our shaky laurels. Hackers are working around the clock to devise sneakier, more devastating ways to get at your data. At 28 percent, the increasing sophistication of attacks is the number one cited factor thought to make an organization more vulnerable. So take a moment to pat yourself on the back, and then get right back to the business of safeguarding your data.
While it’s great that we’re becoming wise to our vulnerabilities and starting to play the defensive game, we can’t rest on our shaky laurels. Hackers are working around the clock to devise sneakier, more devastating ways to get at your data. At 28 percent, the increasing sophistication of attacks is the number one cited factor thought to make an organization more vulnerable. So take a moment to pat yourself on the back, and then get right back to the business of safeguarding your data.
New survey finds heightened confidence in the face of cyberattacks.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like