GEC NEWS WIREThales revealed the results of its 2018 Thales Data Threat Report, Global Edition, issued in conjunction with analyst firm 451 Research. The report finds digitally transformative technologies are shaping the way organizations do business and moving them to a data-driven world, with 94% of organizations using sensitive data in cloud, big data, IoT, container, blockchain and/or mobile environments.
Digital transformation is driving efficiency and scale as well as making possible new business models that drive growth and profitability. This rush to embrace new environments has created more attack surfaces and new risks for data that need to be offset by data security controls. The extent and impact of increased threats is most clearly shown in levels of data breaches and vulnerability: In 2018, 67% of respondents were breached, with 36% breached in the last year – a marked increase from 2017, which saw 26% breached in the last year; Consequently, 44% of respondents feel “very” or “extremely” vulnerable to data threats
While times have changed with respect to technological advancements, security strategies have not– in large part because spending realities do not match up with what works best to protect data: 77% of respondents cite data-at-rest security solutions as being most effective at preventing breaches, with network security (75%) and data-in-motion (75%) following close behind; Despite this, 57% of respondents are spending the most on endpoint and mobile security technologies, followed by analysis and correlation tools (50%); When it comes to protecting data, the gap between perception and reality is apparent, with data-at-rest security solutions coming in at the bottom (40%) of IT security spending priorities
Garrett Bekker, Principal Security Analyst, Information Security at 451 Research and author of the report says:
“While times have changed, security strategies have not – security spending increases that focus on the data itself are at the bottom of IT security spending priorities, leaving customer data, financial information and intellectual property severely at risk. If security strategies aren’t equally as dynamic in this fast-changing threat environment, the rate of breaches will continue to increase.”
Peter Galvin, Chief Strategy Officer, Thales eSecurity says:
“As is borne out by our 2018 Data Threat Report, we’re now at the point where we have to admit that data breaches are the new reality, with over a third of organizations suffering a breach in the past year. In this increasingly data-driven world it is therefore hugely important to take steps to protect that data wherever it is created, shared or stored.”
