ASIS International has published a study which analyses the relationship between physical security, cybersecurity, and business continuity in modern organisations. The study uses the results of a survey which investigated the extent to which organizations in the United States, Europe, and India have converged their security functions.
More than 1,000 professionals with senior roles in physical security, cybersecurity, disaster management, business continuity, and related fields responded to the survey.
The results of the research are available in ‘The State of Security Convergence’ report.
According to the report, despite years of predictions about the inevitability of security convergence, just 24 percent of respondents have converged their physical and cybersecurity functions.
When business continuity is included, a total of 52 percent have converged two or all of the three functions. Of the 48 percent who have not converged at all, 70 percent have no current plans to converge.
“For years, security practitioners have accepted that organizations are increasingly converging their physical security and cybersecurity functions,” says Brian Allen, CPP, president, ASIS Foundation Board of Trustees. “This study collected current data to measure trends and progress with converging environments. What we’ve learned is that, although convergence has brought positive results, there is still much work to be done.”
96 percent of organizations that converged two or more functions (physical, cyber, and/or BCM) report positive results from the combination, and 72 percent believe that convergence strengthens overall security. In addition, 44 percent of converged organizations report no negative results from converging. Even in companies that have not converged, 78 percent believe that convergence would strengthen their overall security function.
The study’s executive summary can be read here.