Barracuda, the leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, recently released key findings from a report titled “Brave the new normal: How companies in Asia-Pacific are overcoming security challenges in a remote workplace”. 1,055 business decision makers in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and India were surveyed to gain insights into their current mindset about future of work trends resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key findings:
- The research revealed 54% organizations in Asia-Pacific (APAC) region admitted that security has taken a back seat in the shift to this mode of working.
- 46% of organizations do not have an up-to-date security strategy or solutions covering all the vulnerabilities posed by remote working, while
- 47% of APAC organizations surveyed cut their cybersecurity budgets to save costs as they responded to the pandemic.
- 43% lacked IT resources or time to upgrade their IT infrastructure in the shift to a remote working model. This highlights the need for organizations to find ways to prioritize spending on critical controls, whether that involves consolidating vendors, investing in SaaS-based tools or assessing how automation could help free budget and resources for security.
- 51% of organizations surveyed reported at least one data breach or cybersecurity incident since shifting to remote working, with 49% reporting that employees had experienced an increase in email phishing attacks.
- 61% are concerned about unknown threats that will cause business disruption in the next 6 months.
- 49% of respondents said their employees are not properly trained in the cyber risks associated with remote working.
- 47% are not confident in the security of their web applications, which is another major target for malicious third parties seeking to access corporate data.
Mitigating cyber threats Key findings: APAC decision makers are aware of the problems relating to their remote working security posture and have a clear idea of how they can improve it.
77% believe that cross-industry collaboration is key to improving security standards. 79% said that they will need to upgrade their IT infrastructure to improve visibility and productivity.
73% plan to provide improved online cyber security training and awareness for remote working staff.
James Forbes-May, VP of Sales in APAC for Barracuda. “Despite this, security has taken a back seat in many organizations due to budget and resource constraints. Threat protection must get the attention it deserves to avoid causing reputational and financial damage at a time when most companies can least afford it.”
(Image Courtesy: www.mytechdecisions.com)