Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings from a report titled “Brave the new normal: How companies in India are overcoming security challenges in a remote workplace”. The research revealed that 53% of organizations surveyed in India do not have an up-to-date security strategy or solutions covering all the vulnerabilities posed by remote working, while 71% admitted that security has taken a back seat in the shift to this mode of working.
The market report was commissioned by Barracuda and conducted by independent research firm Censuswide in July 2020. 1,055 business decision-makers in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and India were surveyed to gain insights into their current mindset about the future of work trends resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While organizations are riding a wave of digital transformation to support the shift to remote working, many have been impacted by major security concerns that have emerged. Despite this, security has taken a back seat in many organizations due to budget and resource constraints. Threat protection must get the attention it deserves to avoid causing reputational and financial damage at a time when most companies can least afford it,” said Murali Urs, Country Manager India, Barracuda Networks.
The report revealed that 62% of Indian organizations surveyed cut their cybersecurity budgets to save costs as they responded to the pandemic. In addition, 42% lacked IT resources or time to upgrade their IT infrastructure in the shift to a remote working model. This highlights the need for organizations to find ways to prioritize spending on critical controls, whether that involves consolidating vendors, investing in SaaS-based tools or assessing how automation could help free budget and resources for security.
This is critical given employees may often be more distracted when working remotely, coupled with a lack of protection on home devices and networks, making them more susceptible to cybersecurity attacks. 66% of organisations surveyed reported at least one data breach or cybersecurity incident since shifting to remote working, with 67% reporting that employees had experienced an increase in email phishing attacks. 70% are concerned about unknown threats that will cause business disruption in the next 6 months.
According to the report, 61% of respondents said their employees are not properly trained in the cyber risks associated with remote working. In addition, 54% are not confident in the security of their web applications, which is another major target for malicious third parties seeking to access corporate data.
The good news is that most Indian decision-makers are aware of the problems relating to their remote working security posture and have a clear idea of how they can improve it. 85% believe that cross-industry collaboration is key to improving security standards. 92% said that they will need to upgrade their IT infrastructure to improve visibility and productivity. 87% plan to provide improved online cybersecurity training and awareness for remote working staff.
