Reducing Complexity, Improving Agility, and Eliminating Unplanned Downtime Driving Network Security Budgets and Priorities
Dallas, Texas | May 13, 2021 | Executives are embracing security automation as to help inject new levels of agility into their organizations and minimize unplanned downtime. These leader believe that combining automation with a zero trust approach, the implementation of SASE architectures, and systems to more effectively manage an increasingly heterogenous hybrid environment will empower their organizations to respond more quickly and embrace digital transformation initiatives.
These findings are based on an independent study by Pulse Media of senior cybersecurity executives in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The study, sponsored by FireMon, highlights the rapid evolution of the network security landscape and the value senior leaders place on security automation to drive agility, responsiveness, and IT resilience.
The research found that 91 percent of cybersecurity leaders experienced unplanned downtime over the past nine months, resulting in disruptions to business-critical and customer-facing applications. Given that organizations are under increased pressure to remain available to all stakeholders, the potential financial and reputational impact is immense. To mitigate this risk and to increase agility, 60% of respondents plan to increase their investment in security automation within the next two years. As part of this, the majority (89 percent) of respondents cite network security policy management (NSPM) as an important strategic investment to ensure they are responsive to changes in market conditions.
With regard to modernizing network security architectures, the study finds that majority of organizations have either already implemented a SASE platform or plan to do so within two years. Respondents cited a move to zero trust architectures, the need to secure access to cloud and SaaS applications, as well as enabling a remote workforce as the primary drivers behind this priority.
“It is clear that a cocktail of multiplying threats, the proliferation of hybrid and cloud architectures, blended with a pandemic-fueled explosion in highly distributed and remote work has created a perfect storm for network security teams,” said Satin H. Mirchandani, President and CEO of FireMon. “It’s no wonder that they’re looking to automation and new technologies and approaches to ensure their networks remain protected and their teams intact.”
“Network security is in the midst of a tectonic shift. New technologies and approaches will rapidly become the norm, forcing security teams to rethink how they manage access policies and ensure compliance in a changing and highly heterogeneous world,” concludes Mirchandani.
The research is based on a survey completed in January 2021 by Pulse Media, a research firm with a 27 000-member knowledge community. The survey included more than 250 IT security executives, consisting of 117 C-Site and 134 VPs in North America and EMEA. The respondents are involved in IT security for organizations with 1,000 employees or more. Industries represented included Finance, Banking & Insurance, Retail, Health Care and Social Assistance, Utilities, and Government.
About FireMon
FireMon is the only agile network security policy platform for firewalls and cloud security groups providing the fastest way to streamline network security policy management, which is one of the biggest impediments to IT and enterprise agility. Since creating the first-ever network security policy management solution, FireMon has delivered command and control over complex network security infrastructures for more than 1,700 customers located in nearly 70 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.firemon.com.
Contact:
Sarah Shkargi
FireMon
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