IT security is still not a top priority discussion for the board: Survey

A Fortinet Global Enterprise Security Survey reveals that despite high profile cyberattacks continuing to occur, almost half of IT decision makers (ITDMs) at 250+ employee organizations around the world, including India, still believe that business executives are not making cybersecurity a significant priority or focus. However, many IT professionals believe that the transition to the cloud as part of their organizations’ digital transformation will in turn make security a growing priority.

India Research Highlights:

Board members are not treating cybersecurity as a top priority: 42% of IT decision makers in India believe that IT security is still not a top priority discussion for the board. This doesn’t seem to affect budgets since 74% of enterprises stated that they spend over 10% of their IT budget on security, which is a high investment. 89% of the surveyed respondents said their IT security budget has increased from the previous year. Now, IT decision makers feel strongly that cybersecurity should become a top management priority with 87% of the respondents saying that the board should actually put IT security under greater scrutiny.

Three key drivers for cybersecurity becoming a top priority:

• Increase in security breaches and global cyberattacks: In the last two years, 84% of businesses have experienced a security breach, with the most common vector of attack being malware and ransomware for 54% of respondents. 71% of ITDMs said there has been an increased focus on IT security following global cyberattacks, such as WannaCry. The scale and profile of global cyberattacks is bringing security to the attention of the board. Security is no longer just an IT department discussion.
• Increased pressure from the regulators: Another important driver of board awareness is the proliferation of regulation, 47% of respondents reported. With major fines threatening the bottom line, such as the impending GDPR compliance for European data, the board now has a mandate to take interest.
• Transition to the cloud as a catalyst for security priorities: As organizations look at migrating to the cloud as part of their digital transformation, 88% of IT security decision makers believe that cloud security is becoming a growing priority. 92% of the respondents also affirm that cloud security - along with the investment in security to support it – is becoming a key priority for the board.  As a result, half of those surveyed (71%) are planning investment in cloud security in the next 12 months.

Report Methodology

The 2017 Fortinet Global Enterprise Security Survey was undertaken on behalf of Fortinet by independent market research company Loudhouse to examine the changing attitudes towards security in business in July/August 2017. The global survey of IT decision makers with responsibility/visibility of IT security, received 1,801 anonymized respondents across 16 countries (India, Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, the US, Canada, France, the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Middle East, South Africa, Poland, Australia). There were a total of 100 respondents in India to the online questionnaire. They were not aware of the purpose or sponsor of the report.

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