Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 81 | Page 69

TWO-FIFTHS ( 40 %) OF CISOS CITED EMPLOYEES USING THEIR OWN DEVICES TO ACCESS CORPORATE DATA AS A TOP IT SECURITY CHALLENGE .
INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology

87 % of EMEA CISOs claim mobile devices are focus of their cybersecurity strategies

Ivanti , the automation platform that helps make every IT connection smarter and more secure , has announced the results of a survey which revealed that the emergence of the everywhere enterprise has shifted CISO priorities away from combatting network security threats and towards mitigating mobile security risks . Almost nine in 10 ( 87 %) CISOs surveyed agreed that mobile devices have become the focal point of their cybersecurity strategies , and four in five ( 80 %) CISOs stated that passwords are no longer an effective means of protecting enterprise data , as hackers are increasingly targeting remote workers and mobile devices .

The study , which polled 400 CISOs across EMEA , found 82 % of respondents agree that remote work has accelerated the demise of the traditional network perimeter , and has subsequently given rise to a host of new IT security challenges . Today , the main challenges that CISOs face involve ensuring only trusted users , devices , networks and apps can access company data :
Almost half ( 45 %) of respondents cited employees leveraging unsecured Wi-Fi to access business resources as a top IT security challenge during the pandemic
Two-fifths ( 40 %) of CISOs cited employees using their own devices to access corporate data as a top IT security challenge One-third ( 33 %) cited employees using unauthorised apps to access corporate data as a top IT security challenge
While nearly all ( 93 %) CISOs stated that they had effective solutions in place to enable the unexpected shift to remote work at the start of the pandemic , nearly all ( 92 %) also stated they need additional IT security measures to better enable remote workers and address the new mobile threat landscape . Looking

TWO-FIFTHS ( 40 %) OF CISOS CITED EMPLOYEES USING THEIR OWN DEVICES TO ACCESS CORPORATE DATA AS A TOP IT SECURITY CHALLENGE .

ahead , almost two-thirds ( 64 %) of CISOs plan to invest in mobile threat detection software . And more than half ( 58 %) noted that enhancing user experiences , improving authentication to remote applications ( 57 %) and moving critical business applications to the cloud ( 52 %) will be top priorities this year . “ The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for
CISOs to ensure that working from anywhere , on any device , is just as safe as working from the office , on a corporate-owned laptop ,” said Nigel Seddon , VP of EMEA West at Ivanti . “ The emergence of the everywhere enterprise – where IT infrastructures are everywhere and distributed employees need access to corporate data everywhere – has dramatically changed the role of the CISO and put mobile device security firmly under the spotlight . CISOs must now place greater emphasis on enabling , securing and optimising mobile work environments .
“ Every CISO should urgently adopt a Zero Trust security strategy to ensure only trusted users can access corporate data and invest in automation technologies that can discover , manage , secure and service all endpoints , devices and data in the everywhere enterprise . They must assume their corporate networks have already been compromised and leverage technologies that can proactively detect threats and self-heal and self-secure devices . To further reduce the attack surface , CISOs should eliminate passwords in favour of passwordless authentication . In doing so , they will also ensure that remote workers enjoy a seamless and secure user experience .” p
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