New Security Megatrends Study by EMA Identifies Effective Ways to Handle Threats

The specific security problems and concerns examined in the study include cloud security, SecOps, the Internet of Things, data sharing and leakage, DDoS, endpoint security, and artificial intelligence.

Enterprise Management Associates (EMA™), a leading IT and data management research and consulting firm, has released a new research report titled “Security Megatrends 2019” based on criteria defined by David Monahan, managing research director of risk and security at EMA.

Based on a survey of 250 North American IT, cyber-security, and executive management respondents, this research examines the current state of enterprise security readiness within the context of security management tools, issues, and practices.

While organizations of all sizes and industry verticals have some security issues and challenges in common, each also has its own specific challenges. For this reason, SMBs, midmarkets, and enterprises were examined to understand the commonalities and divergence in the trends.

Some of the data points this research sheds light on are as follows:

  • The frequency of cloud adoption for security workloads is more than triple what it was two years ago, with virtually all organizations having a presence in the cloud.
  • Alert fatigue is a growing area of frustration for security professionals, and over 95 percent of the tickets coming in are classified as the highest priority.
  • Eighty-seven percent of organizations opted to engaging some level of managed security service (MSS), with as many as 98 percent having either engaged one already or are considering an engagement.
  • Despite the possible risks of threats, organizations across all industries have ambitious IoT initiatives.
  • Seventy-eight percent of the respondents indicated they had experienced a DDoS attack, with 53 percent indicating it had happened in the last year and 29 percent having experienced an attack in the last six months.
  • When asked how effective their detection and prevention solutions were, respondents felt that detection solutions were only about 71 percent effective and prevention was only about 73 percent effective.

Ultimately, there are a lot of common security problems in the world today. A key finding of this new EMA report is that while there are absolutely nuances to some of the problems that are specific to a vertical, there are very few (if any) security problems totally unique to any company size or vertical.

Threat actors may be more persistent and the potential losses may be larger for some companies or verticals, but all organizations need to have a solid security program based on reducing risk. Each company has to prioritize its risk and address the most significant problems in the way it sees most fit. If companies invest appropriately based on their true risk tolerance and follow best practices, they can be compliant and secure without worrying about which compliance regulations they are or are not meeting.

Highlights from the report will be revealed during the February 5 webinar, “EMA Megatrends in Cyber-Security.”

About Enterprise Management Associates (EMA)

Founded in 1996, EMA is a leading industry analyst firm that provides deep insight across the full spectrum of IT and data management technologies. EMA analysts leverage a unique combination of practical experience, insight into industry best practices, and in-depth knowledge of current and planned vendor solutions to help their clients achieve their goals.

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