Organizations are cutting corners to keep the lights on. However, they have understood the growing importance of cybersecurity and are thinking of increasing the IT security budget. Though it will not be as much as what was predicted at the beginning of 2020, the amount is still 2.4 percent more than 2019. In this article at Dark Reading, Erica Chickowski shares the post-COVID IT security budget conditions.
Trends in IT Security Budget
Remote work has become commonplace for companies worldwide since the coronavirus epidemic set in. The business influencers have realized that there is a need for securing company assets from online threats. So, here are the primary areas that you will see significant upheavals as regards to post-COVID IT security budget:
Internal Risks
Microsoft made a recent study with 800 business executives. 58 percent of enterprises have increased their corporate spending. The move was made to fight the internal vulnerabilities brought about by cybersecurity issues surrounding the work-from-home model and digital initiatives. One out of four companies reported having spent 25 percent more on their IT security budget.
Security Protocols
Cybercriminals had targeted remote employees the most because organizations were not prepared to provide security to the distributed staff at first. After the increased attacks, companies have doubled their efforts to enhance multi-factor authentication (MFA), endpoint device protocols, anti-phishing, and security awareness training.
Strengthening Cloud
The year-end will see organizations improving their cloud usage protocols now that their workforce relies heavily on cloud access. Per Gartner, cloud security will experience the most growth, i.e., 33 percent. This category’s IT security budget far exceeds the next two’s—data security (7.2 percent) and application security (6.2 percent).
Decreased Hiring
Though the IT security budget has increased, organizations are decreasing their security operations center employees. An Exabeam report conveys 68 percent of the companies laid off some of their SOC employees. 57 percent paused hiring security candidates.
Securing Finance
The finance industry has not decreased its IT security budget to address the impacts of the pandemic and drastic digitization efforts. Deloitte and FS-ISAC researchers report that financial units would spend 15 percent more than in 2019. The cybersecurity budget per employee would be $2,691 on average.
To view the original article, visit the following link: https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/post-covid-19-security-spending-update/d/d-id/1338858
