APAC service providers are especially concerned over their security infrastructure, Reveals Juniper

A new report from Juniper Networks has found that Asia-Pacific (APAC) service providers (SPs) are especially concerned over their security infrastructure as they increasingly embrace adoption of new technologies, such as distributed clouds, the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G.

The report’s findings revealed that only one quarter of SPs surveyed are very satisfied with their existing security infrastructure, with the majority planning heavy investment into security over the next two years.

“Network deployments have changed significantly over the past few years. Service providers are rapidly moving to the cloud and adopting new technologies, such as IoT and 5G, which will redefine the way we live, work and play. All of these are heavily dependent on the network, and enterprises are increasing spending on security to protect new and existing infrastructure.” said Ang Thiam Guan, VP & GM, APAC, Juniper Networks.

“As this transformation occurs, we need to encourage a more all-encompassing view of security, rather than focus on the perimeter. The network itself should be seen as the first line of defense, especially as the scale, demands and usage patterns on infrastructure continue to evolve and grow.”

The report polled 51 IT decision makers from SPs across APAC, including in Singapore, China, Australia, Japan, Korea and India. Data from this research was used together with data from an international survey of 100 decision makers from SPs globally, conducted by Heavy Reading.

Report Highlights

Rapidly growing adoption of new technologies, including distributed clouds, IoT and 5G, has introduced additional security susceptibilities, forcing SPs to scale up and scale out their security infrastructure to remain relevant and secure.

The complex, new security challenges brought about by distributed cloud, IoT and 5G

SPs are developing distributed cloud architectures ahead of 5G deployments, with only 6 percent indicating they have no plans to deploy a distributed cloud. With the distributed cloud, they can offer IoT-ready services and position themselves to support third-party applications, providing them the ability to enter adjacent markets to create new revenue streams.

This comes as no surprise, as distributed clouds and IoT implementations significantly increase the attack surface available to malicious actors. IoT devices serve as an entry point for a network and are increasingly being used to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Intrusion detection, cloud security and upgraded firewalls top focus area for SPs

SPs are investing across multiple solutions in order to address these new cybersecurity challenges created by distributed clouds, IoT and 5G.

A unified view of security tools and networks employed by SPs is key

According to the research, up to 50 percent of APAC SPs manage between 11 to more than 50 security tools within their company’s infrastructure. The application of security policy changes in a multi-dashboard environment itself presents a security threat, as cybersecurity staff are faced with the challenge of monitoring multiple consoles and having to cross-reference between disparate screens and information formats.

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