Security / Firms Struggle With Security, but MSSPs Can Help

Firms Struggle With Security, but MSSPs Can Help

By Gina Roos | Posted 2016-11-22

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Firms Struggle With Security, but MSSPs Can Help

These takeaways highlight why companies need to be more proactive in their security plans and why they should get help from managed security service providers.
Costly Mistakes

The IT professionals surveyed reported that the average cost of cyber-attacks to their organization was between $50,000 and $100,000.
Getting Ready

82% said their company has a cyber-security or cyber-attack readiness plan in place.
Growing Threats

42% of the respondents said their company has been the victim of a cyber-attack.
Biggest Risks

53% said employees are the biggest source of cyber-attacks, followed by non-employees working as part of a group (18%) and non-employees working alone (15%).
Common Causes of Cyber-Attacks

Testing and monitoring system failure: 21%
Advanced persistent threats (APTs): 15%
Employee error: 14%
Lost equipment : 7%
Main Goals of Security Plans

Attack prevention: 50%
Recovery of loss from attack: 19%
Continuity of business during attack: 18%
Organizational response to attack: 13%
Protection Gaps

25% of respondents said their company's cyber-security plan partially covers on-premise IT environments, devices and technologies. 30% said the plan partially covers cloud IT environments, devices and technologies.
Faulty Security

43% said attacks could have been prevented with a more comprehensive cyber-security policy; 37% said they could have used better tools and methods for testing and monitoring; and 21% said they needed better communication of security policies to employees.
Coming to the Rescue

66% of the organizations surveyed use third-party consultants or MSSPs to develop or implement security plans, and 69% found those services to be "very helpful."
Choosing the Cloud

83% of respondents said their organization uses cloud-based infrastructure or applications, and 22% said cloud-based systems were more cost-effective than on-premise security solutions.
Tech That's Most at Risk

Desktop and laptops: 59%
Databases: 57%
Web servers: 57%
Network security devices: 53%
Mobile devices: 43%
Application servers: 42%
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Most people would agree that no company is immune from cyber-attacks, but the good news is that most organizations have some kind of plan in place to deal with them. However, nearly one-third of their IT teams believe key hardware and software systems are being left unprotected, according to the NetEnrich 2016 Cyber-Attack Readiness survey of 174 IT professionals. The biggest causes of cyber-attacks, said these IT pros, are stolen or weak passwords, followed by testing and monitoring system failure, and advanced persistent threats (APTs). Many of them believe these attacks could have been prevented by having a stronger cyber-security policy and better tools for testing and monitoring. Partnering with third-party consultants or managed security service providers also can significantly boost protection plans. Nearly 70 percent of the companies that use consultants or MSSPs to develop or implement their plans said their services were very helpful. Here are key survey takeaways that highlight why organizations need to be more proactive in their security plans, and why they should consider getting help from external partners.