The majority of Global 2000 companies have areas within their networks that are not properly analyzed, and these "blind spots" can lead to costly breaches due to unknown applications, traffic, devices and users operating insecurely on a corporate network, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan.
The study, sponsored by security provider ForeScout Technologies, found that 72% of the 400 IT and security professionals surveyed worldwide reported that they experienced five or more network-based security incidents in the past 12 months.
Managed devices experienced the most security incidents, despite increased investment in managed security technologies. Managed end-user computers yielded the highest network-based security incidents, with nearly one-third of companies in the U.S., 19% in the U.K. and 50% in Germany reporting five or more.
Managed servers also served as gateways for attack in 27% of companies in the U.S., 19% in the U.K. and 36% in Germany. The survey suggested that this is leading to low customer confidence in security agents being deployed.
"We've confirmed what most people already expect—that no company is truly secure without its security technologies working together,” Chris Kissel, industry analyst, Network Security Research at Frost & Sullivan, said.
“A siloed security approach can create network blind spots that have costly, long-term impacts on business continuity and brand reputation," Kissel said. "Without full network visibility, these attack surfaces will only increase, given the fast-growing number of BYOD [bring your own device] and IoT [Internet of Things] devices being connected to corporate networks."
