Big data analytics
Big Data Analytics Gives Security Boost to Feds
Most federal IT managers are using big data analytics in some form for cyber-security. Yet obstacles remain, including a shortage of skilled talent and poor management support.
Data Security Benefits
Feds believe that fully leveraging big data for cyber-security will improve protection from external (66%) and internal security threats (57%). It also will decrease the time to detect a threat (50%) and remedy an incident (40%) and reduce false alerts in existing monitoring systems (40%).
Big Data Growth
81% of federal IT managers report their agency is using big data analytics for cyber-security in some capacity; 53% use it as a part of their overall cyber-security strategy and 28% use it in a limited capacity.
Scanning for Vulnerabilities
The most common uses for big data include detecting vulnerabilities in the IT environment (55%), detecting breaches that are currently happening (54%), correlating and analyzing data from multiple sources (51%), and monitoring streams of data in real time (49%).
Advanced Analytics
51% of respondents currently use behavioral analytics and 71% have some form of continuous diagnostic capabilities.
Lack of Confidence
45% of respondents who use big data analytics for cyber-security trust their efforts to be highly effective.
Compromised Data
59% of respondents said their agency deals with a cyber-security compromise at least once a month due to its inability to fully analyze data.
Data Analysis Struggles
88% of respondents said their agency faces challenges gaining cyber-security intelligence from data, with the majority reporting the task has become more difficult in the past two years.
Securing Volumes of Data
The biggest challenges include the sheer volume of cyber-security data (49%), lack of the right systems in place to gather the cyber-security information needed (33%) and information is no longer timely when it makes it to cyber-security managers (30%).
Data Loss
Respondents estimate that more than 40% of their data goes unanalyzed.
Adoption Roadblocks
The biggest issues holding back big data adoption include a lack of skilled personnel (40%), privacy concerns (27%) and a lack of management support/awareness (26%).
Security Improvements
90% of big data users have seen a decline in security breaches due to big data analytics. They cited declines in malware (50%), insider threats (47%) and social engineering (46%).
Stopping Attacks
84% of big data users have successfully stopped at least one cyber-security attack by using big data.
Bigger Investments
94% plan to invest in big data analytics in the next two years, with planned investments in technology infrastructure (61%), hardware (52%), and business intelligence tools/analytics (52%).