What prevents companies from developing and implementing comprehensive security plans? The results of a survey released by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence has revealed budget plays an important role when it comes to network security.
In the survey, 50% of IT professionals said budget is a bottleneck to objective achievement. As networks become more complex, the cost to performance ratio will increase and make organizations with limited funds more vulnerable.
For small businesses who manage their own network, maintaining security integrity with limited funds has always been a challenge and will continue to be moving forward.
This is one of the issues Richard Wilding, Director of New Ventures and Innovation at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence addressed in the report from the survey.
Wilding said, “Perhaps the most alarming finding is the clear gaps in budget and operational resources that limit development of advanced security strategies as well as the implementation practices to protect business operations.”
He goes on to say organizations have to take advantage of new tools and strategies by “Making policy management more automated, more efficient, and ultimately more manageable.”
The survey was carried out by Spiceworks with the participation of 400 professional IT decision-makers in the US and the United Kingdom. According to BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, the goal was to understand the tech stack and behaviors organizations currently use.
Cybersecurity Challenges
Overall the survey revealed the different barriers preventing companies from developing and implementing security plans.
These barriers vary from company to company, but security is the overarching problem they all face. Forty percent of organizations said their IT teams spend the majority of their time on network security activities.
This includes policy management, a problem affecting 65% of the respondents in at least one area of simulating the impact of changes, ensuring that network security policy is being implemented as intended, and time taken to update policy on all required devices.
Continuing with the challenges of policy, 45% said achievement is not a high enough priority for the overall organization. This has resulted in 51% of the organizations not being able to achieve their objectives.
Everything from different tools from different vendors to lack of staff was cited as being responsible in the survey.
When it comes to staffing the problem is more acute. This is particularly relevant to small businesses as most can’t afford to hire professionals full-time, which can make it difficult to find qualified professionals.
In the survey 35% of the organizations said they don’t have the talent with the necessary skills to do the required job.
Security Threats in the Digital Ecosystem
According to Ponemon’s 2018 State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium Size Businesses study, 70% of small businesses experience cyber attacks and half don’t know how to protect their companies.
Criminals exploit any vulnerability they can find. Whether it is weak passwords or an unprotected network, their ability to find the cracks highlights the need to have a strong comprehensive security policy in place.
Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, The Ponemon Institute, said it best in the press release, “As the threat landscape evolves, cybercriminals are leaving no stone unturned — and companies — no matter how big or small — are only as strong as their weakest link.”
Image: BAE SYSTEMS