Why Firms' Network Security Plans Need Re-evaluation
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Blinded by Limited Visibility
64% of respondents report that manual processes, lack of visibility into security policies and poor management practices are the biggest challenges to network security. -
Communications Roadblock
18% of respondents said aligning plans for development, security and operations is their biggest obstacle. That's up from 9% in both 2012 and 2013. -
Failure Is Not an Option
56% of respondents said their organizations experienced one or more outages in the last year due to security infrastructure misconfiguration, while 26% did not know how many outages they had. -
Risky Business
The majority of organizations struggle with identifying security vulnerabilities, and 45% said their biggest challenges are understanding them in the context of their businesses or getting the business unit to fix the problem. -
Owning the Risk
60% of organizations said their data centers run more than 50 critical business applications, with 20% of organizations managing more than 500 apps and 15% responsible for more than 1,000 apps. Nearly all respondents said business stakeholders should "own the risk" of their applications. -
Insider Job
73% of organizations said accidental data leakage or malicious breaches by insiders is the No. 1 risk. That's up from 62% in 2013. -
Third-Party Security Poses Risk
Half the respondents who outsource the management of security controls or sensitive data were less than confident about their provider's ability to provide protection. Only 12% were very confident. -
Cloudy With a Chance of Risk
Although more than two-thirds of respondents said they have migrated some apps to a public cloud and 73% have migrated some apps to a private cloud, security remains a big issue. In fact, 37% said maintaining security is the biggest challenge with migration. -
Consolidation Headaches
When consolidating data centers, 53% of respondents said they had security concerns with application connectivity; 39% said ensuring the right access for authorized personnel was their biggest concern, followed by 29% who said ensuring apps can run is their biggest issue. -
Easing the Pain
More than two-thirds of organizations have implemented next-generation firewalls that incorporate intrusion-protection systems, application control, URL filtering and advanced malware detection. While improved protection was the biggest reason for security adoption, 29% upgraded their firewalls to enable bring-your-own-device practices.
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Defining MSPs' Goals, Challenges and Tools 
Why Metrics Matter to the Channel The biggest security challenges around the data center for organizations continue to be a lack of visibility into security policies, manual processes and poor management practices, according to a recent survey conducted by AlgoSec, a provider of network security policy management. Many organizations face a big risk of outages, which can negatively affect an enterprise's profits, productivity and reputation. While the survey finds that involving more people internally and externally in a company's security management leads to increased IT risk, the number of applications—often more than 500—in data centers makes it impossible not to distribute the responsibility. This can open up significant opportunities for security providers to help organizations solve their biggest security challenges. Solution providers and channel partners can help organizations achieve visibility, alignment and communication across the key stakeholders by helping them examine issues such as what the process looks like, how to enforce it and how to add automation, said AlgoSec. It's all about getting the right people, as well as the right processes, technology and solutions. Here are 10 key takeaways from the survey that should give security teams food for thought.