Cyber Security: Threats and Challenges of Digital Ecosystems
At a time when businesses are increasingly relying on digital technology for their growth, in particular data integration with suppliers and customers, research by Tata Consultancy Services shows that only 16% of senior IT and risk leaders expressed concern about digital ecosystems when assessing expected cyberattacks.
This indicates that supply chain compromise, social engineering and other attacks leveraging the organization's partners, suppliers and customers - are ranked as a low concern by IT and risk professionals, which is somewhat perplexing.
On a positive note, only one in six respondents stated that their board of directors considers issues related to cyber risk and security only "occasionally, as needed, or never." Getting the Board's attention to address cybersecurity seems to be less of a challenge these days.
Other findings include:
Most companies now find cloud platforms more secure compared to traditional data centers. The realization that building your own infrastructure tends to be less secure is finally maturing among most cyber executives, which is welcome.
The greatest obstacle to cybersecurity initiatives is finding and retaining the right skills. This reflects today's still tight labor market, with record numbers of professionals searching for new job opportunities.
The survey stresses that one way to reduce the likelihood of attacks within digital supply chains is to implement a 'zero-trust' strategy based on the principle of 'never trust, always verify'. That is in line with the industry push for zero-trust, including the US federal government and the White House.
Read more about the research results at Help Net Security.