There has been a sudden surge in enterprise security challenges owing to the spike in work from home. According to the newest study by Juniper Networks, sudden changes in priorities, poor network visibility, and lack of time were cited as key issues for security professionals struggling to cope with new norms. The study commissioned by Juniper and conducted by Vanson Bourne explored the attitudes, perspectives, and concerns of 1,000 senior IT networking and security professionals from various industry sectors across the globe.
The traditional approaches toward securing enterprise networks have been amplifying newer challenges due to budget constraints and an increase in remote workforce. According to the study, 97% of respondents admitted that they were specifically experiencing ongoing enterprise security challenges when attempting to secure their organization’s network effectively. These were IT challenges that were present even before lockdowns and work from home formats were established. The peril was only heightened by prolific and highly motivated bad actors who have been taking advantage of every opportunity to thrive and remain undetected.
Other highlights of the study include:
- 86% of respondents felt that they need to improve network reliability and performance.
- 87% of respondents pursued a security solution to give better visibility across existing apps, reducing false positives, and improving threat response times.
- 63% of respondents stated that their organization positions IT security as a cost center rather than as a value-driving asset.
- 97% stated that they had been obliged to spend money on breach mitigation in the last twelve months, with the average cost being more than $276,000.
- 95% of respondents stated that they have been working with multiple vendors in pursuit of their overall security deployment goals.
“There is a clear narrative among senior IT and security professionals that is overwhelmingly confirmed in this survey. Put simply, they know network security is hugely important, with failure increasingly carrying significant risk for their organization. For me, the most compelling statistic is that ninety-nine percent (99%) agree that a threat-aware network would bring benefits to their organization,” said Samantha Madrid, VP of Security Business & Strategy, Juniper Networks.
She continued, “As workers become more distributed and threats become more sophisticated, security professionals are faced with new and emerging challenges that put enterprises at even greater risk than before. Companies need threat-aware networks that bring speed and agility to enterprise security, coupled with a Connected Security strategy that allows all network elements to work together for increased visibility and action where it matters most. The old way of thinking about security will no longer suffice for those companies battling a new norm.”
