The aim of the survey – which took in responses from 1,025 IT professionals in North and South America, EMEA and the AsiaPac region – was to look at the concerns and challenges that IT security organizations face as they confront the evolving threat landscape
The July poll revealed that most enterprises are less-than-confident in their security posture and that staffing is
a major issue limiting IT security's effectiveness.
According to Symantec, researchers found that 46% of those who lacked confidence indicated insufficient security staff was a top factor. A further 45% cited a lack of time to respond to new threats for their existing staff. Overall, the survey revealed that 43% of organizations worldwide reported they are somewhat or extremely understaffed.
Those who lack confidence in their ability to respond to threats also reported issues with staff effectiveness. Sixty-six percent rate their staff as less than effective and only 4% rate their staff as completely effective. The top three issues impacting staff effectiveness were recruiting (46%), retention (42%) and skill set gaps with existing staff (35%)
The findings, asserted Symantec, suggest that effectiveness is linked to both staffing levels as well as staff experience and skill set.
Beyond these staffing issues, the other top concerns noted by respondents were keeping up with changes in the threat landscape, maintaining adequate visibility of their own infrastructure and managing security log and alert data in a timely and effective manner.
Sixty-eight percent identified threat intelligence as one of their top two concerns. Concerns about the potential for new avenues of attack in an evolving infrastructure are reflected in the 49% who ranked security visibility as a top concern.
Finally, a significant number (45%) reported they are concerned about their ability to properly correlate and analyze the security information and alerts that are being generated by their security solutions.
So what is the solution to these problems?
Symantec recommended that companies build a comprehensive strategy that plans for all aspects of your incident management program, including technology, people and processes. In particular, be sure to consider the staffing requirements to maintain an effective program.
Firms should also be vigilant about the changing threat landscape because, with the accelerating rate of change in the external threat environment, many enterprises need to increase their attention on the latest developments to keep pace.
Businesses and their IT staff should also evaluate systems for managing security information and alerts, said the vendor, adding that the rising volume of security information and alerts is straining some organizations.
These organizations, said Symantec, should evaluate the technology, processes and staffing that are in place for storing, analyzing and acting on this data.