Kaspersky Survey Reveals Gaps in Cybersecurity and its Repercussions
Kaspersky report ‘State of Industrial Cyber security in the Era of Digitalization‘ has revealed the main barriers that inhibit or delay implementation of industrial cyber security projects.
The most common obstacles include the inability to stop production (34%), and bureaucratic steps, such as a lengthy approval process (31%) and having too many decision-makers (23%). These barriers may become a critical point in light of COVID-19 because they can affect the implementation of pandemic-driven operational technology (OT) security initiatives.
“It’s always more difficult to invest money and resources in projects without a clear return on investment, such as with cyber security initiatives. And while cyber security for OT is still a developing area, all these management barriers are quite natural. As a vendor, it is up to us to help customers eliminate these obstacles and simplify and speed up the implementation of protection measures. Our task here is to make ROI more transparent and showcase the risks for businesses so customers can understand the benefits from the very beginning and better justify them to C-suite or the board if needed”, commented Georgy Shebuldaev, Head of Growth Center at Kaspersky.
The pandemic lockdown introduced its own challenges in addition to the existing threat landscape. Industrial firms have to adapt to new norms including remote work, overnight digitalization and new hygiene requirements, as well as specific pandemic-driven threats such as a massive growth in phishing attacks.
The above barriers however are what organizations will have to overcome when implementing cyber security projects. Remarkably, most of them refer to bureaucratic rather than technical obstacles – in total, almost half of organizations (46%) face red tape delays. In addition to the most prevalent – long approval times and numerous decision-makers –these barriers include protracted supplier selection and purchasing processes, as well as interference from other departments.
