Even when there are security breaches, companies don’t act to protect themselves very well, according to VMware’s latest Global Security Insights Report.
VMware’s 2021 Global Security Insights Report found that there was a lack of urgency despite surge in material breaches. While 81 percent of respondents have suffered a breach in the last twelve months with 82 percent being significant security professionals have underestimated the likelihood of a material breach. Only 56 percent say they fear a material breach in the next year, and just over one-third have updated their security policy and approach to mitigate the risk.
The report highlights a resurgence of ransomware and remote work creates an unpredictable attack surface. More than 76 percent of respondents said attack volumes had increased – with the majority pointing to employees working from home as the cause. Another 79 percent said attacks had become more sophisticated. Cloud-based attacks were the most frequently experienced attack type in the past year, whereas the leading breach causes were third-party apps (14 percent) and ransomware (14 percent).
Cloud-first security strategies are now universal with 98 per cent of respondents already use or plan to use a cloud-first security strategy. But the move to cloud has expanded the threat surface. Nearly two thirds agree they need to view security differently now that the attack surface has expanded. More than 43 percent of respondents said they plan to build more security into their infrastructure and apps and reduce the number of point solutions.
Applications and workloads are top CISO concerns. Applications and workloads are viewed as the most vulnerable points on the data journey by CxOs. More than 63 percent agree they need better visibility over data and apps in order to pre-empt attacks. Another 60 percent of respondents also said that their senior leadership team feel increasingly worried about bringing new applications to market because of the growing threat and damage of cyber attacks.
Security concerns are holding back the adoption of AI. The next frontier for business innovation may be artificial intelligence, but more than half of CxOs say that security concerns are holding them back from embracing AI and machine learning.
