According to a recent study, over one-third of the cybersecurity technologies used by Indian companies reported to be outdated. Read on to know more about it…
The main finding of the study illustrates that the security professionals believe a significant portion of the technology they use is unreliable and complex, and that firms are investing in new security architecture such as Zero Trust and SASE.
Key Findings
According to the findings of a new study by Cisco released today, it is more crucial than ever for organizations in India to update the technology and solutions in their cybersecurity architecture. The study, titled “Security Outcomes Study Volume 2” found that 37% of cybersecurity technology employed by Indian organizations are considered outdated by security and privacy professionals who are working at these companies.
The study is based on a global poll of over 5,100 security and privacy professionals from 27 different markets. This covers over 2,000 professionals from 13 Asia-Pacific markets. The aim of the study is to figure out what the most effective measures the teams can take to defend their organizations against the evolving threat landscape. Respondents, including professionals from Indian organizations, shared how they update and integrate their security architecture, detect and respond to cybersecurity threats, and stay resilient in the face of disaster.
India’s cybersecurity infrastructure is also unreliable and complex, according to respondents, with 33 percent and 40 percent stating this in the study, respectively.
The good news is that Indian businesses are taking steps to improve their security posture by investing in advanced cybersecurity technologies. In India, nearly nine out of ten (89%) respondents indicated their company is investing in a ‘Zero Trust’ approach, with 44 percent stating they are making steady progress and 45 percent saying they have reached a mature stage of implementation. Furthermore, 88 percent of respondents claimed their organization is investing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, with 44 percent stating their adoption is doing well and a comparable percentage indicating their implementation is mature.
According to the respondents from India, they consider that their cybersecurity infrastructure is also unreliable and complex, with 33% and 40% stating this in the survey, respectively.
Good Progress and Possible Solutions
The good news is that Indian businesses are taking steps to improve their cybersecurity posture by investing in latest cybersecurity technologies. In India, nearly nine out of ten (89%) respondents revealed that their company is investing in a ‘Zero Trust’ approach, with 44% stating their organization are making steady progress with adopting it and 45% disclosing that they have reached a mature stage of implementation it. Furthermore, 88% of respondents claimed their organization is investing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, with 44% stating their adoption is making good progress and a similar percentage indicating their implementation is at mature levels.
In today’s cloud-first, application-centric environment, these two approaches are critical to establishing a robust cybersecurity posture for businesses. While operating in this environment, organizations face numerous challenges, including complexity in connecting users to applications and data across various cloud platforms, inconsistent security policies across disparate locations and networks, difficulty verifying the identity of users and devices, and a lack of end-to-end visibility of their security infrastructure, among others.
The SASE architecture is commonly regarded as a viable solution to address these challenges. SASE, to put it another way, combines networking and security functions in the cloud to deliver secure access to applications wherever users work. Meanwhile, zero trust is a simple concept that entails verifying each user’s and device’s identity every time they access an organization’s network in order to decrease security risks.
It’s not possible to overstate the importance of cloud-based security architectures. According to the study, organizations with mature implementation of Zero Trust or SASE architectures are 35% more likely than those with nascent implementations to report robust security operations.
Vishak Raman, Director, Security Business, Cisco India and SAARC, added, “Cisco’s Security Outcomes Study indicates where the biggest gaps lie in India Inc.’s cybersecurity posture. In response, nearly 60 percent of companies are expanding their investments in cloud-based security technology plans. As they ramp up these efforts, they must focus on building a robust cloud-based, integrated, and highly automated architecture to ensure agility and intelligence in threat remediation and enable visibility and management of newly distributed users and applications.”
Additional Findings
Other findings from this study shows that organizations that utilize threat intelligence achieve faster Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), with 50% lower than non-intel users, and organizations that use integrated technologies are seven times more likely to achieve high levels of process automation. Furthermore, these companies have 40% stronger threat detection capabilities.
Automation more than doubles the productivity of less experienced employees, supporting organizations in the face of skills and labour shortages.
With the threat landscape evolving, it’s more important than ever to test business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities on a frequent basis and in numerous ways, with proactive organizations 2.5 times more likely to sustain business resiliency.
Organizations with board-level oversight of cybersecurity teams’ business continuity and disaster recovery operations perform best.