Size doesn’t matter, so stop relying on cyber security prevention

While larger organisations are typically thought of as having the resources to mount a more substantive cyber defence, size is not a determinant of strong cybersecurity maturity.

That’s the industry view of RSA, the security division of EMC, who in releasing its inaugural Cybersecurity Poverty Index, reports that nearly 75 percent of all organisations self-reported insufficient levels of security maturity.

Compiling results from more than 400 security professionals across 61 countries, the survey allowed participants to self-assess the maturity of their cybersecurity programs leveraging the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) as the measuring stick.

Findings show that the lack of overall maturity is not surprising as many organisations surveyed reported security incidents that resulted in loss or damage to their operations over the past 12 months.

The most mature capability revealed in the research was the area of Protection with research results providing “quantitative insight” that organisations' most mature area of their cybersecurity program and capabilities are in preventative solutions despite the common understanding that preventative strategies and solutions alone are insufficient in the face of more advanced attacks.

Further, the greatest weakness of the organisations surveyed is the ability to measure, assess and mitigate cybersecurity risk with 45 percent of those surveyed describing their capabilities in this area as “non-existent,” or “ad hoc,” and only 21 percent reporting that they are mature in this domain.

This shortfall makes it difficult or impossible to prioritise security activity and investment, a foundational activity for any organisation looking to improve their security capabilities today.

“This research demonstrates that enterprises continue to pour vast amounts of money into next generation firewalls, anti-virus, and advanced malware protection in the hopes of stopping advanced threats,” says Amit Yoran, President, RSA, The Security Division of EMC.

“Despite investment in these areas, however, even the biggest organisations still feel unprepared for the threats they are facing.

“We believe this dichotomy is a result of the failure of today's prevention-based security models to address the advancing threat landscape.

“We need to change the way we think about security and that starts by acknowledging that prevention alone is a failed strategy and more attention needs to be spent on strategy based on detection and response.”

Size doesn’t matter

Yoran reports that counter to expectations, the research also indicates that the size of an organisation is not an indicator of maturity.

In fact, 83 percent of organisations surveyed with more than 10,000+ employees rated their capabilities as less than “developed” in overall maturity.

This result suggests that large organisations' overall experience and visibility into advanced threats dictate the need for greater maturity than their current standing.

Large organisations' weak self-assessed maturity ratings indicate their understanding of the need to move to detect and response solutions and strategies for a more robust and mature security.

Also, Yoran says that counterintuitive to expectations were the results from Financial Services organisations, a sector often cited as industry-leading in terms of security maturity.

Despite conventional wisdom, however, the Financial Services organisations surveyed did not rank themselves as the most mature industry, with only one third rating as well-prepared.

Critical infrastructure operators, the original target audience for the CSF, will need to make significant steps forward in their current levels of maturity.

Telecommunications

Organisations in the Telecommunications industry reported the highest level of maturity with 50 percent of respondents having developed or advantaged capabilities, while Government ranked last across industries in the survey, with only 18 percent of respondents ranking as developed or advantaged.

The lower self-assessments of maturity in otherwise notably mature industries suggest a greater understanding of the advanced threat landscape and their need to build more mature capabilities to match it.

Despite the fact that the CSF was developed in the United States, the reported maturity of organisations in the Americas ranked behind both APJ and EMEA.

Organisations in APJ reported the most mature security strategies with 39 percent ranked as developed or advantaged in overall maturity while only 26 percent of organisations in EMEA and 24 percent of organisations in the Americas rated as developed or advantaged.