Managing and securing devices and applications used by employees to access company resources in the new Everywhere Workplace is the main cause of growing budgets
Ivanti Inc., the automation platform that helps make every IT connection smarter and more secure, released research that finds an exponential increase in IT security budgets as companies adapt to the Everywhere Workplace. 92% of CISOs indicated that this increase is linked to the need to implement security measures to enable employees working remotely. Four in five CISOs (80%) also highlighted the need to replace passwords with more secure forms of authentication.
The study, which involved 400 CISOs across the EMEA area (also interviewing large Italian companies in any sector) found that last year's average budget for IT security was 64 million euros. According to 81% of CISOs, in the next 12 months, this figure is set to increase further. The specific software solutions in which major investments are expected are unified endpoint management (UEM) and biometric authentication. Although CISOs said they invested more than two-fifths (41%) of last year's budget in UEM software, four in five (80%) expect a further increase in 2021. The increase in this type of investment is aimed at ensuring better management and protection of all devices attempting to access company resources from the Everywhere Workplace.
Seven in ten (70%) CISOs said the use of biometric authentication, which allows remote access to company data, is expected to increase due to the significant growth in phishing attacks. The 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report di Verizon, found that in 2019, 22% of the violations that occurred involved this type of attack and that they involved 75% of organizations around the world in 2020. In this scenario, the adoption of mobile device authentication based on biometrics can avoid this type of attack. In fact, 70% of those interviewed predicted a normal increase in investments in this solution while 22% indicated significant increases.
Nigel Seddon, VP Emea West di IVantti declared: "The birth of the Everywhere Workplace has led to a progressive increase in remote devices accessing company resources, offering cybercriminals new opportunities for exploits. CISOs must therefore try to guarantee complete visibility of all devices, protecting and managing them adequately."
"CISOs should consider implementing 'spend intelligence' technology to better manage their IT security budget. This offers insight into all software scenarios and application spending across all IT environments, improving operational speed, asset visibility and reducing costs. 'Spend intelligence' – combined with a zero trust approach and biometric authentication, protect digital assets from the cloud to the edge by verifying the device before allowing access to data – will implement a more robust security standard, improve user experience and control IT security spending, taking pressure off IT teams.”
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