Plethora of platforms, a perplexing problem purports Perimeter 81

artistic representation of a hacker
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The rising complexity of cyberattacks is forcing companies to add additional cybersecurity tools and solutions - including antivirus, anti ransomware, endpoint protection etc - to their tool sets, something which is quickly becoming unsustainable.

A survey carried out by Zero Trust specialist Perimeter 81 found half of companies with more than 1,000 employees are using 20 or more cybersecurity services to mitigate attacks.

Yet despite this, nearly two thirds have experienced what the report calls a “significant cyber security incident” since the beginning of 2021.

Overwhelming

The report notes having a plethora of often incompatible security solutions makes it difficult for IT professionals to have a bird’s view of the state of security in real time within the organization.

Not surprisingly, seven out of 10 VP and CIOs questioned believe that having so many tools is harming their ability to detect and prevent threats altogether. That is not surprising given that each security solution needs to be properly implemented and maintained across all end points, gateways and network attack surfaces.

Evolving security problems can also give rise to unexpected scenarios that can offer a window of opportunity for an attacker or cause false positives.

Covid, a nefarious catalyst

The additional workload has been caused by the thousands of entities, big and small, that have embraced hybrid working

Amit Bareket, CEO of Perimeter 81, said “A remarkable 87% of responding companies will have hybrid workers even after Covid—and more than half of them will work remotely three to four days a week. This is a dramatic development that permanently increases the size of the network’s attack surface, and requires IT professionals to quickly seek long-term solutions.”

In addition, the report highlighted the shocking fact that 59% of companies admitted to paying a ransom to cyber criminals, with nearly half of them having data recovery costs between $100,000 and $1 million.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.