Research from Aruba and Ponemon Institute Shows
Security Teams View Machine Learning and Network Visibility for
Users and IoT Devices Essential for Battling Stealthy Threats
Inside IT Infrastructures
As businesses struggle to combat increasingly sophisticated
cybersecurity attacks, the severity of which is exacerbated by both
the vanishing IT perimeters in today’s mobile and IoT era, coupled
with an acute shortage of skilled security professionals, IT
security teams need both a new approach and powerful new tools to
protect data and other high-value assets. Increasingly, they are
looking to artificial intelligence (AI) as a key weapon to win the
battle against stealthy threats inside their IT infrastructures,
according to a new global research study conducted by the Ponemon
Institute on behalf of Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
(NYSE:HPE).
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Larry Ponemon, chairman, Ponemon
Institute (Photo: Business Wire)
The Ponemon Institute study, entitled “Closing the IT Security
Gap with Automation & AI in the Era of IoT,” surveyed 4,000
security and IT professionals across the Americas, Europe and Asia
to understand what makes security deficiencies so hard to fix, and
what types of technologies and processes are needed to stay a step
ahead of bad actors within the new threat landscape.
The research revealed that in the quest to protect data and
other high-value assets, security systems incorporating machine
learning and other AI-based technologies are essential for
detecting and stopping attacks that target users and IoT devices.
The majority of respondents agree that security products with AI
functionality will help to:
- Reduce false alerts (68 percent)
- Increase their team’s effectiveness (63
percent)
- Provide greater investigation
efficiencies (60 percent)
- Advance their ability to more quickly
discover and respond to stealthy attacks that have evaded perimeter
defense systems (56 percent)
Twenty-five percent of respondents said they currently use some
form of an AI-based security solution, with another 26 percent
stating they plan on deploying these types of products within the
next 12 months.
Current Security Tools are not Enough
“Despite massive investments in cybersecurity programs, our
research found most businesses are still unable to stop advanced,
targeted attacks – with 45 percent believing they are not realizing
the full value of their defense arsenal, which ranges from 10 to 75
security solutions,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman, Ponemon
Institute. “The situation has become a ‘perfect storm,’ with nearly
half of respondents saying it’s very difficult to protect complex
and dynamically changing attack surfaces, especially given the
current lack of security staff with the necessary skills and
expertise to battle today’s persistent, sophisticated, highly
trained, and well-financed attackers. Against this backdrop,
AI-based security tools, which can automate tasks and free up IT
personnel to manage other aspects of a security program, were
viewed as critical for helping businesses keep up with increasing
threat levels.”
IoT and Cloud Adds Significant Risk
Ponemon researchers found that the majority of IT security teams
believe that a key gap in their company’s overall security strategy
is their inability to identify attacks that use IoT devices as the
point of entry. In fact, more than three-quarters of respondents
believe their IoT devices are not secure, with 60 percent stating
even simple IoT devices pose a threat. Two-thirds of respondents
admitted they have little or no ability to protect their “things”
from attacks. Continuous monitoring of network traffic, closed-loop
detection and response systems, and detecting behavioral anomalies
among peer groups of IoT devices, were cited as the most effective
approaches to better protect their environments.
Even the ownership model for IoT security presents potential
risk. When asked who inside their organization was responsible for
IoT security, responses ranged from the CIO, CISO, CTO, and
line-of-business leaders, with no majority consensus. Only 33
percent identified the CIO, with no other executive or functional
group achieving response totals above 20 percent. Surprisingly, “No
Function” was the third-highest answer (15 percent).
Survey results also highlighted the importance of visibility and
the ability to define which resources that people and IoT devices
can access, with 63 percent of respondents stating network access
control is an important element of their company’s overall security
strategy and critical for reducing the reach of inside exploits.
Also cited as important was having detailed information about
applications (71 percent), endpoints (69 percent), cloud (64
percent), and networks (63 percent), with more than half saying
they currently deploy network access control solutions for enabling
visibility and control across both wired and wireless networks.
Additionally, more than half of respondents said it’s hard to
protect expanding and blurring IT perimeters resulting from
requirements to concurrently support IoT, BYOD, mobile, and cloud
initiatives (55%).
“Partnering with the Ponemon Institute helps us to improve
customer experiences by better understanding security teams’
challenges, and then arming them with advanced solutions that
enable quick identification and responses to an ever-changing
threat landscape,” said Larry Lunetta, vice president of security
solutions marketing for Aruba. “The insight gained from this study
enables us to continually improve our ability to provide an
enterprise wired and wireless network security framework with an
integrated and more comprehensive approach for gaining back
visibility and control.”
Ponemon Findings Parallel other Aruba Research
The Ponemon Institute study parallels findings from an Aruba
global study conducted in June 2018 of 7,000 employees across 15
countries. That study revealed that cybersecurity is a challenge
for employers, especially for those working in smart buildings.
- The report found that although
employees reported higher levels of cybersecurity awareness, with
52 percent thinking about security often or daily, they also
admitted to taking more risks with company data and devices. 70
percent admitted to risky behaviors such as sharing passwords and
devices.
- It also showed that 25 percent of
employees have connected to potentially unsafe open Wi-Fi networks
in the past 12 months. Additionally, 20 percent said they use the
same password across multiple applications and accounts, and 17
percent admitted to writing down passwords in order to remember
them.
Additional Asset
- Aruba blog: After all the Hard Work,
Why Does the Security Gap Still Exist?
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading
provider of next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of
all sizes worldwide. The company delivers IT solutions that empower
organizations to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users
who rely on cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their
work and personal lives.
To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba
on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest
technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads
Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
About Ponemon Institute
Ponemon Institute is dedicated to advancing responsible
information and privacy management practices in business and
government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts
independent research, educates leaders from the private and public
sectors and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of
organizations in a variety of industries. For more information,
please visit https://www.ponemon.org/
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180918005453/en/
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise companyEmory
Epperson,
+1-408-419-0294emory.epperson@hpe.comORInterfuseJonathan
Stone, +1-214-259-3446jonathan.stone@interfusecomms.com
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