Only half of organizations worldwide have reviewed their cybersecurity policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey reports.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rapid shift to working from home. While organizations often had their employees in the office — and, therefore, access to corporate resources was concentrated there — the need to provide remote options has increased the potential attack surface.
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Using a virtual private network (VPN) is common for connecting to corporate systems remotely. However, the pandemic has led to the widespread use of personal computers and mobile devices with varying levels of security — and the reliance on video conferencing tools and emails has caused headaches for security teams.
According to a survey released Tuesday by the Ponemon Institute, commissioned by Intel, global businesses will spend an estimated $172 billion on cybersecurity this year. Yet only 53% of respondents said they have updated their existing cybersecurity policies due to the pandemic.
When changes were made to existing policies, they were due to factors such as remote work requirements, supply chain failures, increased rates of cyberattacks, and employee turnover .
Overall, 59% of organizations surveyed said their cybersecurity practices are “innovative,” at least in terms of threat detection, followed by 51% who believe they are innovative in the way they make technology investments.
The pandemic has created what could become a permanent hybrid workforce. Business organizations have recognized that this requires a shift in investment, with remote working, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation being top priorities.
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When it comes to security solution implementations, 85% of respondents said that hardware and firmware-based security solutions are now a “high” or “very high” priority. Additionally, 64% of respondents said their companies were looking to strengthen security at the hardware level, with the cloud, data centers, edge computing and security operations centers (SOCs) in mind.
Consolidating zero-trust strategies is on the table for enterprise players. As the pandemic continues to impact businesses worldwide , 75% of respondents said they have increased interest in adopting zero-trust access and privilege frameworks.
The pressures of the pandemic have prompted many organizations to innovate their cybersecurity practices. Organizations have been forced to make changes to their cybersecurity practices due to a remote workforce. Fifty-three percent of respondents say their organizations have revamped their security strategy due to the pandemic.
Information source: zdnet.com
