Overconfidence can be a killer.
Fifty-seven percent of security professionals surveyed in the Keysight 2020 Security Operations Effectiveness study were confident their current security solutions are working as intended.
This overconfidence may have led to half reporting that they have experienced a security breach because one or more of their security products was not working as expected.
What is more only 35% of respondents stated that they conduct testing to ensure their security products are configured and operating as they expect.
To close this gap, 86% acknowledged the importance of security test solutions that can actively test their company’s security products and posture, using both internal and external attack vectors.
“Enterprises are faced with a continuous stream of cyberattacks that threaten their businesses, and in many cases they attempt to deal with these by buying more security tools. Yet they don’t know whether these products are delivering the protection they expect,” said Scott Register, vice president, security solutions at Keysight’s Network Applications & Security Group.
He added that the disconnect is when good security tools are misconfigured or security teams lack the skills to use their tools.
“This situation leads to overspending on overlapping tools and compromises an organization’s security posture. Ongoing testing of security solutions would give organizations the proof and confidence that they are protected, but also would provide the opportunity to save resources,” he suggested.
Additional findings:
- 75% of respondents said their company had experienced a security breach (unauthorized intrusion, malware, hack etc), and 47% have experienced three or more breaches in the last three years.
- 50% of survey respondents stated they found a security solution was not working as expected after a breach had occurred.
- 35% of respondents have test-based evidence to prove their security products are configured and working correctly.
- 49% of respondents stated they actively practice how to remediate and respond to security incidents.
- 66% of companies are using security solutions whose functions overlap, and for 41% of respondents this overlap is unintentional, wasting security budgets and management time without strengthening the organization’s security posture.
- 86% of respondents stated they would value a solution that finds and helps to remediate vulnerabilities in a company’s security posture. 79% of those surveyed would remove a security product from their infrastructure if they could prove it wasn’t effective.
