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Digital Transformation Brings Security Vulnerabilities, Canon Research Says

Digital transformation may help companies work smarter but it can also unearth security vulnerabilities that cost companies money, time, intellectual property and customer trust, a new study of 1,000 IT professionals said.

The second iteration of Canon’s Office of the Future Survey builds on the company’s eponymous platform established in 2017 that offers the latest trends, data insights, and solutions the vendor believes organizations need to adapt. “By facilitating panel discussions and uncovering key insights to further the future of work, we’re shifting the conversation from uncertainty toward solutions,” Canon said on the platform’s web page. All of the organizations in the survey experienced a cyber event in the past year.

Here are the top level findings:

On social engineering cyber threats.

  • Malicious insiders (30%) and human error (25%) are the top cyber threat sources.
  • More than one-third of respondents view ransomware and malware as the top priority threats to their organizations.

On pain points.

  • 25% believe that employees have limited or no understanding of threats or prevention.

On technical proficiency.

  • When introducing new cybersecurity solutions, technical competency (33%) is the top barrier followed by budget constraints (23%).

On financial impact.

  • Actual costs of a data breach could range from 1 - 7 years of annual revenue.
  • 90% of the respondents believe the cost of a breach will be confined to 50% of annual revenue.

On evolving with the cyber landscape.

  • 50% said their companies are aggressive in adopting emerging cyber technologies.
  • 40% of the respondents are not knowledgeable about key AI or machine learning technologies.

On disaster recovery.

  • 25% have deployed state-of-the-art disaster recovery procedures.

On 2020 security plans.

  • 60% of companies already have a security agenda in place.
  • 25% said cloud security is their top investment moving forward.

On security investment.

  • 46% said security spending is less than 5% of their overall IT budget.

On GDPR and CCPA.

  • One year after security-focused regulations were implemented, 59% IT pros said the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act have had a negative impact on their organization.
D. Howard Kass

D. Howard Kass is a contributing editor to MSSP Alert. He brings a career in journalism and market research to the role. He has served as CRN News Editor, Dataquest Channel Analyst, and West Coast Senior Contributing Editor at Channelnomics. As the CEO of The Viewpoint Group, he led groundbreaking market research.

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