Commvault released a new IDC report commissioned by Commvault
entitled, “The Cyber-Resilient Organization: Maximum Preparedness with
Bullet-Proof Recovery Survey.”
In this report, IDC surveyed more than 500
security and IT operations leaders worldwide to get a current view of how
organizations are perceiving modern security threats and approaching cyber
resilience. Many of the key findings of this report can be broken down into
three areas: C-level engagement in cyber preparedness initiatives; fears around
data loss and vulnerable workloads; and the need for automation.
Cyber resilience starts
in the C-suite – or does it?
The research shows that in many cases, senior executives/line-of-business
leaders are minimally engaged in their company’s cyber preparedness initiatives
– only one-third (33%) of CEOs or managing directors and less than a quarter
(21%) of other senior leaders are heavily involved. According to the research,
the majority (52%) of senior leaders have no involvement in their company’s
cyber cases.
In addition to a lack of executive engagement, there is also often confusion
between ITOps and SecOps teams in terms of who is doing what when it comes to
cyber preparedness. Only 30% of SecOps teams fully understand ITOps’ roles and
responsibilities for cyber preparedness and response, and similarly, only 29%
of ITOps teams fully understand what falls to SecOps.
According to IDC, business leaders need to play a key role in ensuring
companies prioritize cyber preparedness. Additionally, organizations must
ensure there is complete alignment between ITOps and SecOps teams as not doing
so can make organizations more prone to successful attacks or lengthy
recoveries.
Data loss is a big
concern, and some workloads are more vulnerable than others
Sixty-one percent of respondents believe that data loss within the next 12
months is “likely” to “highly likely” to occur due to
increasingly sophisticated attacks. Of the respondents surveyed, on-premises
workloads were thought to be more vulnerable than cloud workloads. On a scale
of 1-5, with 5 being highly vulnerable, respondents rated on-premises data
repositories a 2.8 and physical workloads a 2.77 – higher than that of cloud
workloads (2.67).
Data exfiltration
remains the preferred tactic, and manual detection processes are falling
short
The research also shows that data exfiltration
attacks – when malware or a
malicious actor carries out an unauthorized data transfer – occur almost 50% more often than encryption
attacks, where hackers aim to decode encrypted data. Respondents
ranked phishing as the most concerning threat to address, given that most
ransomware attacks begin with a successful attack on user credentials.
Additionally, as cyber attackers deploy more clever tactics, relying on manual
detection and reporting processes are very likely to result in missed anomalies
and successful attacks. A potential solution – automation – could lead to
faster detection to mitigate the intrusion impact. However, most organizations
(57%) have limited automation for key functions, increasing their chances of
missing a threat before it happens; only 22% report being fully
automated.
“Cyber attackers never rest and are constantly discovering ways to exploit
vulnerabilities. A truly effective cyber resilience strategy must go beyond
just backup and recovery. It’s crucial that organizations adopt a new approach
that spans prevention, mitigation, and recovery,” said Phil Goodwin, Research
Vice President, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group, IDC.
“Whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment, they must
integrate multiple layers of defense. With AI now a tool for both defense and
offense, the urgency for comprehensive cyber resilience has never been more
evident.”
“We are beyond just reacting to cyber threats. The
C-suite must ensure teams are prioritizing proactive defense, real-time threat
intelligence, and robust risk management to pave the way for genuine cyber
resilience,” said Javier Dominguez, CISO, Commvault. “It’s also
critical that SecOps and ITOps teams work closely together to look holistically
at their security posture, end-to-end. With Commvault, resilience isn’t an
afterthought – it’s the blueprint.”
To review the full survey results, visit https://www.commvault.com/idc-whitepaper-the-cyber-resilient-organization.
