Many Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) in the UK don’t feel like they’re in control over what goes on inside their organization from a cybersecurity perspective, new research has found.
Cybersecurity solutions provider BlueFort Security found things like remote working, shrinking budgets, and widening skills gaps were creating the “perfect cybersecurity storm”.
Polling 600 CISOs from various UK businesses, BlueFort found that 75 percent see their organizations at increasing risk of a cyberattack. Remote working is partly to blame, as CISOs started losing track over movers, joiners and leavers on their network. Almost a third (29 percent) said they were missing corporate devices.
As a result, the number of incidents is growing. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of CISOs said their organization suffered an incident in the last 12 months, despite introducing additional measures to mitigate the risks of remote working.
The future isn’t looking all too bright, either, as almost two in five (38 percent) expect hybrid working to further complicate the management of cyber risks. While some think they should enforce cybersecurity policies more rigorously, and sanction employees to encourage tighter security practices, others are more worried about where end-point data resides.
The good news is that CISOs are investing in new technologies, such as automation and machine learning, to tackle the problems. Some are looking to deploy zero trust architecture, endpoint detection and response, as well as AI.
“The fact that CISOs have had a particularly tough time these past 18 months isn’t a surprise. What shocked me was the severity of the impact,” comments Ian Jennings, co-founder of BlueFort Security.
“It’s a sorry tale of a lack of visibility - of their infrastructure, their devices and their people - which has led to poor intelligence and restricted control. The positive takeaway from this is the recognition that new technology will play a significant role when it comes to redressing the balance.”