A majority of network security professionals in a variety of industries across the U.S. are concerned that their company is not adequately equipped to protect itself from cyber attacks, according to a 2010 Cyber Security survey published by Narus, in collaboration with Converge! Network Digest and Government Security News. The overwhelming majority of respondents (93 percent) believe cyber attacks are on the rise and approximately 88 percent think the government is not equipped to protect itself.
Some key findings:
- Respondents cited viruses and malware (67 percent) and DoS attacks (50 percent) as significant threats to organizations today.
- Respondents (nearly 74 percent) expect their service provider to provide protection against cyber attacks.
- The clear majority of respondents (90 percent) believe the best way to protect against cyber attacks is with a solution that detects, analyzes and mitigates unwanted, unwarranted or malicious traffic in real time.
- Many fear critical networks face significant threats and are concerned that an overwhelming majority (95 percent) believe those attacks are increasing in sophistication, as compared with attacks from a year or two ago.
- Although malicious activity on the Web has undoubtedly prompted most -- if not all -- organizations to put some sort of network security in place, more than 73 percent of respondents feel the onus of security should fall to their respective carriers or service providers.
Narus, which supplies real-time traffic intelligence and analytics technologies, said that as more networks become compromised, it is evident that standard approaches using signature- and policy-based software and hardware such as malware/anti-virus, firewalls, IDS/IPSs, and SEMs alone or in combination are critical but insufficient. Rather, a multi-tiered system based on vulnerability analysis and risk assessment of the data contained in the network -- enabling complete network and data visibility in distributed, heterogeneous networks and real-time processing and policy enforcement -- will emerge as a more desirable and complete
solution.
Narus is calling on cyber security vendors to cooperate with each and form an interoperable "cyber security ecosystem" that enables the best of forensics, visualization, data mining and storage.
"Narus sponsored this survey to uncover what's important to the people most affected by malicious cyber activity -- the network and security professionals," said Greg Oslan, CEO and president of Narus. "Armed with these results, Narus can bolster its campaign to arm the world's most critical networks with cyber protection -- a solution that will provide the ability to see clearly and act swiftly."
The full 2010 Cyber Security Report is available for download.
|
