Businesses cite data protection as key concern

Corporate systems experience data leakages caused by both external, internal factors

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LAHORE:

According to a recent Kaspersky IT Security Economics report, the majority of companies globally find loss of productivity, securing complex tech environments and enabling data protection to be the most concerning business issues, resulting in growing IT security needs and requirements.

In Pakistan, data protection is a major business concern, while issues with business process outsourcing are also cited by organisations as problematic.

The Kaspersky IT Security Economics report is released every year to analyse the changes in budgets, breaches and business challenges affecting IT security decision-makers. The report is compiled from interviews with IT and IT security professionals from organisations of different sizes and industries.

The survey was carried out in 27 countries across Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, Turkiye and the Africa (META) region, including Pakistan.

Data protection is a critical concern expressed by 33% of companies globally and 61% in Pakistan. Respondents were concerned because they regularly encountered the physical loss of devices by employees and experienced data leakages from corporate systems, caused by both external and internal factors.

According to the report, downtime and lost productivity are the most concerning business problems, caused by ineffective IT security, an opinion expressed by 38% of companies globally and 20% in Pakistan.

They encounter this problem mainly due to the lengthy period taken to detect and remediate threats. Additionally, 19% of organisations in Pakistan also mention issues with business process outsourcing as their major concern.

Securing complex technological environments and ensuring data connectivity were also on the list of concerns, according to 33% of the respondents globally and 9% in Pakistan.

Among the main IT issues that cause this challenge, the respondents pointed to the rising number of incidents involving non-computing connected devices and incorrect operations of cyber security solutions that leave systems exposed.

"It is crucial for organisations to safeguard every aspect of their operations from potential breaches. Attackers no longer solely rely on zero-day exploits, as a simple click on a malicious link. Even a small vulnerability in a contractor's infrastructure can lead to devastating consequences," commented Alexey Vovk, Information Security Director at Kaspersky.

"This underscores the idea that information security should be based on a comprehensive and systematic approach, rather than being limited to the implementation of individual point-specific measures."