Whilst cybersecurity has gained attention of company agendas, a recent survey reveals that the struggle to keep up with the rapidly evolving cybersecurity technologies, products and solutions is the primary barrier hindering Asia-Pacific organisations from ensuring secure cyber environments.
This is according to 46 per cent of respondents across the Asia-Pacific region surveyed by Palo Alto Networks for its report, The State of Cybersecurity in Asia-Pacific, launched today.
The struggle to combat increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats and the search for appropriate solutions to address them have been underscored by the following observations based on the survey:
- More money does not mean more and better solutions: Amongst the spectrum of cybersecurity offerings available, antivirus (69 per cent) and firewalls (67 per cent) have the highest take-up rates in the region. On the other hand, far fewer companies have adopted more advanced solutions, such as two-factor authentication (27 per cent), anti-ransomware (25 per cent) and biometrics (22 per cent). This is despite two-thirds of APAC organisations having increased cybersecurity budgets from the last financial year, with up to 74 per cent getting sizeable budgets (5 to 15 per cent of total IT spend) dedicated to cybersecurity.
- There is a need to change the mindset towards cybersecurity: A majority of organisations in APAC (58 per cent) believe a ‘detect and respond’ approach is more important than prevention. However, this mindset towards cybersecurity might require re-evaluation, given the continued prevalence of data breaches in the region. In financial year 2016-17, 52 per cent of organisations have reported a cybersecurity breach. Furthermore, 30 per cent have reported financial losses of over US$100,000 from those breaches.
- Different markets face different challenges: Organisations in each market noted a range of challenges they faced in ensuring cybersecurity. Overall, the APAC markets surveyed were unanimous about employees’ lack of cybersecurity awareness being the topmost challenge. Risk from third-party vendors was the second most prominent concern (36 per cent). With the rapid adoption of digital technologies – especially in developing markets – migration to cloud followed as the third-biggest pain point (31 per cent). In particular, governments displayed a need to be more agile in adapting to technology trends, with updating legacy IT systems being their largest hurdle.
The State of Cybersecurity in Asia-Pacific report features analysis, practical strategies and tips that can be implemented to help companies in Asia-Pacific keep up with rapidly evolving cybersecurity technologies. View the State of Cybersecurity in Asia-Pacific report.