A survey of 5,266 IT professionals from 31 countries was conducted. The survey showed that in 2021 the companies are planning to solve the issues of lack of experienced professionals and saving budgets by outsourcing IT and cybersecurity functions. In addition, experts noted a number of other interesting and important trends:
- Due to the mass transition to remote work format, traditional office perimeter protection is no longer enough, it is important to consider home offices as well. Here it’s necessary to use tools to scan the security level of the workspace – from searching for software vulnerabilities to checking for connection to an unprotected Wi-Fi point. More widespread VPNs, privileged access control, multifactor authentication systems, stricter monitoring, and updates to existing cyber incident response plans will also be needed;
- Service models can provide the required level of cybersecurity with less investment. According to data, 69% of large companies plan to operate on an MSP or MSSP model. It will allow them to minimize their investments and transfer costs from capital to operating ones;
- Training for internal IT professionals should include management training. Cybersecurity often requires very narrow specialists, which is quite expensive for businesses to find. In this case, outsourcing can help. However, companies that outsource key components of cybersecurity should develop the management skills of internal teams so they can regulate these functions;
- There is a growing demand for cloud services and, accordingly, a need to protect them. According to the survey, employees in the vast majority of Russian organizations use non-corporate software and cloud services such as social networks, messengers or other applications for work (in 83% of large and 87% of small companies). To keep corporate data secure, the way cloud services are accessed needs to be monitored more closely. Cybersecurity officers need to fine-tune these processes and develop the skills to manage and protect cloud environments.
There are two important new trends in what customers expect from enterprise cybersecurity. First, the fact that protection must be of high quality is no longer a matter of debate, but is perceived as an immutable fact.
Another notable trend is the integration of different enterprise security components from a single vendor. For a long time, there has been a widespread belief in the industry that in order to provide the most effective protection, it is better to combine specialized solutions from different vendors. Now organizations are striving for a unified approach and maximum integration between different security technologies.
