Half of IT pros think there are devices on their network they don't know about

Half of IT professionals believe there are devices connected to their network that they're unaware of, despite nearly 60 percent admitting that insecure devices pose a 'very high' or 'high' risk to their organization.

This is among the findings of a survey of 250 IT professionals by Advanced Cyber Defence Systems (ACDS) which also finds over two-thirds of organizations have experienced three or more data breaches in the past 24 months.

In addition 20 percent of organizations took longer than five days to discover a breach. The delay in detection can drastically amplify the damage inflicted by cyberattacks.

The report looks at open source software commitments made by organizations too. Many organizations rely on open source projects for innovation; however, only 39 percent of respondents reported that their companies actively fund the open source projects they rely on. Respondents to the survey cited the recent XZ Utils backdoor, an open source vulnerability, as an influential incident prompting increased spending in the area. Other significant events that prompted increased spending to bolster security defenses were nation-state attacks and the MOVEit breach.

Elliott Wilkes, CTO of ACDS, says, "A comprehensive device inventory and robust security protocols are crucial for mitigating cyber threats. Advanced solutions, like automated network scanning tools, such as ACDS OBSERVATORY, enhance network visibility and protection. Prioritizing these measures significantly reduces the risk associated with unknown or insecure devices, safeguarding critical assets and ensuring operational integrity."

You can get the full report from the ADCS site.

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