Complexity leads to trade-off between risk and innovation

A new report finds that 85 percent of executives surveyed believe computing innovation is
increasing risk.

The report from LevelBlue also shows 74 percent think the opportunity of computing innovation outweighs the corresponding increase in cybersecurity risk -- making cyber resilience nearly impossible to achieve.

While 47 percent of survey respondents declared their cybersecurity processes as standardized, with only 35 percent having formalized incident response.

Computing has advanced so rapidly that most IT leaders no longer have visibility into their IT estate, yet emerging technologies such as AI and edge computing create unprecedented
opportunities for innovation. While almost 90 percent expect dynamic computing to boost operational performance within the next three years, a similar proportion see it increasing their exposure to risk within the same timeframe.

"Businesses are less resilient than they should be, despite multiple high-profile cyber attacks and the knowledge that, for most, any widespread interruption to computing would be catastrophic," says Theresa Lanowitz, chief evangelist of AT&T Cybersecurity/LevelBlue. "Our research shows that despite the potential for cybersecurity to support safer innovation -- and therefore drive better outcomes -- most respondents admit their cybersecurity is siloed or an afterthought. By recognizing cybersecurity as a core business function and adopting a proactive stance on risk management, businesses can quickly and confidently navigate the intricacies of dynamic, boundaryless computing."

Among other findings 63 percent of respondents say leadership doesn't prioritize cyber resilience, and 72 percent admit their governance team doesn’t understand it. 56 percent have limited visibility of the IT estate, with 72 percent believe digital transformation is an ongoing barrier to cybersecurity resilience.

The adoption of Cybersecurity-as-a-Service (CSaaS) is on the rise too, with 32 percent of organizations opting to outsource their cybersecurity needs rather than managing them in-house.

"The launch of the LevelBlue Futures Report serves as a further testament of our commitment to deliver the latest research to the industry, helping organizations better prepare for cyber attacks, more efficiently allocate IT budget, and ultimately, experience increased cyber resilience," says Bob McCullen, chairman and CEO of LevelBlue. "We're excited to continue delivering forward-looking, vendor neutral industry research to better inform our customers and the future industry at large."

The full report is available from the LevelBlue site.

Photo Credit: Olivier Le Moal / Shutterstock