Enterprises struggle with providing secure hybrid access

As businesses move towards hybrid IT environments they increasingly face threats, gaps and investment challenges to keep their systems secure.

The study from secure access specialist Pulse Secure surveyed enterprises with 1000+ employees in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and finds that while they are taking advantage of cloud computing, all enterprises have on-going data center dependencies.

The most severe incidents come from a lack of user and device access visibility and lax endpoint, authentication and authorization access controls. Over the last 18 months, half of all companies surveyed dealt with malware, unauthorized/vulnerable endpoint use, and mobile or web apps exposures. Nearly half experienced unauthorized access to data and resources due to insecure endpoints and privileged users, as well as unauthorized application access due to poor authentication or encryption controls.

A majority (61 percent) of respondents say they have only modest confidence in their security processes, human resources, intelligence and tools to mitigate access security threats. The survey reveals the top access threat issues as, defining app, data and resource access and protection requirements; defining, implementing and enforcing user and device access policy; and provisioning, monitoring and enforcing BYOD and IoT device access.

Among other findings, 91 percent of enterprises say they plan to increase secure access expenditure over the next 18 months, while 30 percent anticipate an increase spend of between 15 and 25 percent.

44 percent of enterprises use a data center in conjunction with public cloud, 30 percent in conjunction with private cloud, and 26 percent utilize all three delivery environments. In addition 46 percent of large enterprises prefer data center and private cloud, a combination primarily preferred by financial services and UK-based companies.

"We are pleased to sponsor the 2019 State of Enterprise Secure Access Report. The independent research provides a useful litmus test for the level of exposure, controls, and investment regarding hybrid IT access," says Scott Gordon, chief marketing officer at Pulse Secure. "The key take away from this report is hybrid IT delivery has expanded security risks and necessitates more stringent access requirements. As such, organizations should re-assess their secure access priorities, capabilities and technology as part of their Zero Trust strategy."

You can download the full report and register for an upcoming webcast to discuss the findings on the Pulse Secure site.

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