Cloud computing and vulnerability in IT systems have been identified as the two greatest concerns for IT decision makers in Asia Pacific, according to a survey conducted by Fortinet.
Specifically, securing the cloud are the concerns of 67 percent of the region’s respondents and Singapore ITDMs, and 86 percent of Mainland Chinese respondents – the highest in APAC.
Protecting against vulnerabilities in IT systems is a concern for 69 percent of respondents from the region, 61 percent in Singapore and 74 percent of Thai respondents – the highest in APAC.
The study also unveiled that 64 percent in APAC say the best response to increased security breaches is to invest in new cyber security technologies that provide protection across the entire threat lifecycle.
In Singapore, the most favored action is to first develop new policies or procedures (70 percent), and then invest in new technologies (57 percent).
However, many see increased security breaches as a catalyst for outsourcing cybersecurity functions to a managed security service provider (MSSP). In all, the research found that within three to five years, 38 percent of APAC organisations could be addressing their cybersecurity priorities through outsourcing.
The forecast for cybersecurity outsourcing adoption is highest in Singapore (61 percent), while in Thailand the take-up is lowest with only 18 percent of organisations expected to outsource.
Findings Advocate Need for Security Fabric and Actionable Threat Intelligence
The survey examined the response tactics of those affected by cyber attacks to illustrate how present security infrastructures have struggled to contend with the realities of an increasingly digital world.
Of the more than half (59 percent) of all APAC IT decision makers in the survey who reported a security breach in the last year, only 22 percent of them discovered this within minutes of the breach occurring.
For Singapore, the figure is 23 percent. Of the Indian respondents who experienced a recent breach, this response threshold was met by only 14 percent (the lowest in the region).
In some sectors, such as healthcare, it took 53 percent of APAC respondents days, months or even years to spot breaches.
Such a deficiency in rapid, effective threat identification and response is proven to be highly costly to breached organisations as sensitive data is lost, systems are compromised and brand reputation is damaged.
The survey found that, to mitigate these attacks and better protect their organisations, the number one action undertaken by ITDMs is the use of threat detection technologies (15 percent in APAC, 23 percent in Singapore). Such capabilities are underpinned by the provision of actionable threat intelligence.
Greatest value of threat intelligence
APAC respondents cited ‘improved risk management’ as the greatest value of threat intelligence (55 percent), followed by ‘improved prevention of attacks’ (53 percent) and ‘improved information security strategy’ (52 percent).
For Singapore respondents, the greatest twin values of threat intelligence lie in the improved detection and prevention of breaches (54 percent for both).
In terms of how and where new threat intelligence capabilities may be applied, 44 percent of APAC respondents asked said they had their own threat research/incident response team monitoring all security activity in place today, though the number is only 25 percent in Hong Kong compared to 52 percent in Mainland China.
In Singapore, the most common cybersecurity intelligence measures are implemented in the firewalls and network gateways (49 percent). Meanwhile, 30 percent of APAC respondents and 31 percent of Singapore respondents claimed to outsource their cyber threat intelligence to a managed security service provider.