· 73% of Indian organisations have experienced a 25% or more jump in either cyber threats or alerts since the start of COVID-19
· 65% of organizations adopted cybersecurity measures during COVID-19 to support remote working
· Cybersecurity is the top priority for 84% of Indian organisations
Bengaluru, NFAPost: Organisations in India are seeing a significant increase in the cybersecurity challenges they face amid the shift to mass remote working, a new study by Cisco shows. According to the study, 73% of organizations in the country have experienced a 25% or more jump in either cyber threats or alerts since the start of COVID-19.
Cisco’s Future of Secure Remote Work Report revealed many Indian organisations were unprepared to make the accelerated transition to a remote workforce at the outset of Covid-19. About two-thirds (65%) of organisations adopted cybersecurity measures during Covid-19 to support remote working.
The study is based on a survey of over 3,000 IT decision-makers globally, including over 1,900 respondents across 13 Asia Pacific markets, including India. It highlights the cybersecurity challenges companies faced as they shifted the majority of their employees to a remote working arrangement in a really short period of time.
Cybersecurity challenges
With users connecting from outside the corporate walls, secure access – defined as the ability to verify identity and establish trust no matter how, where, or when users log in, is the top cybersecurity challenge faced by the largest proportion of Indian organizations (68%) when supporting remote workers. Other concerns raised by organizations include data privacy (66%) and protection against malware (62%).
Crisco India & SAARC Security Business Director Vishak Raman saidwWith organisations forced to shift to a new way of working almost overnight, the newly distributed workforce became a focal point for malicious actors.
“As a result, the pandemic has amplified the criticality of cybersecurity and brought new complexities to the fore. Now, as remote work continues to garner traction, organisations are turning their attention to building a robust cybersecurity foundation, with cloud security emerging as the top investment for 31% of companies in reinventing their workplaces post COVID-19,” said Crisco India & SAARC Security Business Director Vishak Raman.
Endpoints are a growing challenge for organisations to protect, as users connect from their home Wi-Fi or use their personal devices to connect to corporate applications. About two in three respondents stated that office laptops/desktops (66%) and personal devices (58%) posed a challenge to protect in a remote environment, followed by cloud applications at 42%.
Transform future
One trend that emerged in recent months is that a hybrid workplace – where employees move between working remotely and in the office – is the future.
The findings of this study further underlined that. Over half (53%) of the organizations in India said they expect more than half of their workforce to continue working remotely post-pandemic. This compares to an average of just 28% of organisations with more than half of their workforce working remotely before the pandemic.
The good news is that as businesses prepare for this hybrid workplace, cybersecurity now tops corporate priorities, with 84% of organisations in India saying that cybersecurity is now a top priority for them. What is even better is that they are translating this into concrete action. The study highlights that 77% of organizations in the region plan to increase their future investment in cybersecurity due to COVID-19.
There are still challenges, though, that need to be addressed. While almost all (97%) organizations have made changes to their cybersecurity policies to support remote working, further simplicity and education are needed. According to the study, 60% of Indian organisations said that having too many tools/solutions to manage was a challenge faced in reinforcing cybersecurity protocols for remote working, followed by a lack of employee education and awareness (55%).
Crisco India & SAARC Security Business Director Vishak Raman said deploying multiple cybersecurity tools reinforces a fragmented and complex security environment that is prone to risks arising from human error.
Employee awareness
“This calls for the implementation of a comprehensive and integrated security approach that can provide a seamless experience for users as well as IT teams. Further, greater focus must be laid on educating and building employee awareness as these endpoints will become the first line of defence for the organisation of the future,” Crisco India & SAARC Security Business Director Vishak Raman.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused businesses across the globe to transition to a remote work environment almost overnight at unprecedented scale and speed.
Commissioned by Cisco and conducted by YouGov, the Future of Secure Remote Work Report explores the readiness of organisations globally, from small businesses to large enterprises, for the sudden transition to remote work, the challenges they faced, and how they are adapting their cybersecurity programs to enable hybrid work environments going forward.
Leader in technology
The survey gathered and analysed data from 3,196 IT decision-makers across 21 markets globally. The markets include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, United Kingdom, United States , and Vietnam.
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