Almost half of IT decision makers (ITDMs) think members of the board still do not consider cybersecurity to be a top priority, according to findings from Fortinet’s Global Enterprise Security Survey.
The firm polled ITDMs with responsibility/visibility of IT security, receiving feedback from 1801 anonymized respondents across 16 countries including US, Canada, UK, Germany, Middle East, South Africa, Poland, Korea and Australia.
The research revealed that despite high profile cyber-attacks continuing to occur (85% of businesses experienced a security breach in the last two years) 48% of ITDMs believe that business executives are not making cybersecurity a significant enough priority or focus, with 77% of respondents saying that boards need to put IT security under greater scrutiny.
However, many IT professionals felt the transition to the cloud as part of their organizations’ digital transformation will make security a growing priority for the board going forward.
“Over the years, we’ve seen that cybersecurity has become a key investment for organizations, with more and more C-level executives considering it as part of their broader IT strategy,” said Patrice Perche, senior executive vice-president, worldwide sales and support at Fortinet. “As organizations now embrace digital transformation and turn to technologies like the cloud, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT investment but a strategic business decision.
“In today’s digital economy, I expect the trend we’ve seen at the board level to accelerate with security being treated as a top priority within an organizations’ broader risk management strategy. By doing so, companies will be in a better position to succeed in their digital transformation efforts.”