Hacking: 7 In 10 Cyber-Security Professionals Losing The Battle

Nearly seven in 10 cyber-security professionals globally, including from India, lament that they are losing ground against the growing breed of hackers and nation-state bad actors, a report showed on Tuesday. Nearly 82 per cent of them estimated their organisation lost up to 10 per cent of revenue from security breaches in the last 12 months.

Only 6 per cent of Indian organisations are working with a fully integrated security model, with another 12 per cent in the process of changing their siloed set-up, according to research by cyber-security firm Trellix.

Seven in 10 cybersecurity professionals admit their current security tools don’t enable their SecOps team to work with maximum efficiency and almost one third said they have blind spots in their protection today.

On average, respondents’ organisations deal with 55 cybersecurity incidents each day, while over 42 per cent admit they cope with 50 to 200 incidents daily. “This research reveals how unsustainable the situation is for cybersecurity professionals today,” said Aparna Rayasam, chief product officer, Trellix.

“Instead of relying on traditional solutions that add complexity, businesses can reshape security operations with a flexible, intelligent security platform designed to consolidate security tools and quickly remediate threats,” Rayasam added.

The research revealed that 67 per cent of cybersecurity professionals work with more than 10 different security tools or solutions across their organisation, with more than 20 tools for 4 per cent of respondents.

The study of 9,000 global cybersecurity professionals, including 1,000 from India, also looked to the future of security, and the technology poised to revolutionise SecOps and 94 per cent described their current security model as “siloed”.

“The majority of current security options rely on siloed intelligence. These may address immediate threats, but the increasing number and complexity of cyberattacks are forcing security teams into a noticeably constant reactive posture,” said Venkat Krishnapur, VP of Engineering and Managing Director, Trellix India.

Meanwhile, in a stern warning to state-sponsored malicious cyber activities, the grouping of India, Australia, Japan and the United States – collectively called Quad – has vowed to assist each other in ensuring the security and resilience of regional cyberinfrastructure.

A joint statement issued on September 26, 2022, after foreign ministers Penny Wong of Australia, S Jaishankar of India, Hayashi Yoshimasa of Japan and US Secretary of State Tony Blinken met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York called on states to take reasonable steps to address ransomware operations emanating from within their territory.

“We exercise responsibility to assist each other in the face of malicious cyber activity, including from ransomware, against critical infrastructure,” it said. The joint statement described this as a call to action.

The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia was set up in 2017 to counter China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.

The foreign ministers said that the Quad countries are committed to an open, secure, stable, accessible, and peaceful cyberspace and support regional initiatives to enhance the capacity of countries to implement the UN Framework for Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace.

“We strongly believe that focused initiatives for enhancing the cyber capabilities of Indo-Pacific countries would ensure the security and resilience of regional cyberinfrastructure,” it said.