IT Embracing Managed Security To Challenges

News Release

IT Embracing Managed Security To Meet Security Challenges

Growth in cyber attacks, difficulty providing security, and staffing issues create impetus for IT to adopt managed security services

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today released the findings of its 2009 Managed Security in the Enterprise Report. The study found that cyber risks and actual attacks have grown significantly in the past two years and are expected to continue to grow in the next two years. Nearly all organisations surveyed (98 percent) have experienced tangible loss as a result. This growth in risks and attacks comes at a time when IT departments report it is difficult to address the problems due to inadequate budgets, increased regulatory pressures and staffing woes. As a result, most U.S. enterprises (61 percent) are moving to adopt managed security services. The study is based on surveys of 1,000 IT managers in U.S. and European enterprises in January 2009.

“IT management in large enterprises is caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Grant Geyer, vice president of Managed Services at Symantec. “Cyber security is a growing problem, yet organisations are having trouble addressing the problem. Managed security services provide a way for many organisations to close the gap and ensure that their information and assets are protected.”

Cyber Threats and Attacks Grow while Losses Mount

Cyber threats are growing rapidly. Nearly half of U.S. enterprises (46 percent) report that cyber threats have somewhat/significantly increased in the past two years and are expected to somewhat/significantly increase in the next two years. In fact, 88 percent of those surveyed saw cyber attacks in the past two years with 31 percent seeing attacks on a regular basis and 10 percent seeing a large/extremely large number of attacks.

To put the problem in context, when asked to rank various risks in order of significance to their organisation, those ranking cyber attacks as No. 1 or No. 2 outpaced all other risks by a wide margin (twice as many as natural disasters and traditional crime and four times as many as terrorism).

Not surprisingly, these attacks drive significant losses. Nearly all (98 percent) experienced some sort of loss, with 46 percent experiencing downtime, 31 percent experiencing theft of customer or employee personally identifiable information and 25 percent seeing theft of corporate data.

Enterprises Find Providing Security More Difficult than Ever: Staffing is a Big Issue

Half those surveyed (49 percent) report that it is getting somewhat/significantly more difficult to provide IT security. Respondents cited a variety of factors, including the increase in threats, inadequate staffing, growing regulatory requirements and insufficient budgets.

Of these, staffing is especially problematic. Two in five organisations say they are somewhat/significantly understaffed, primarily because of difficulties finding qualified applicants, layoffs and lack of funds in the current economic situation. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that existing staff’s skill sets are too narrow and it is difficult to retain the best security staff.

Managed Security Services a Solution for Many

With the problem outgrowing IT’s ability to provide security internally, it is not a surprise that many (61 percent) of those surveyed are embracing managed security services to bridge the security gap. The reasons cited by IT management include the ability to provide 24x7 coverage, lower overall costs, access to security expertise and an enhanced ability to mitigate security risks.

Relevant Links

To read additional key findings and obtain more about the Managed Security in the Enterprise report, visit the following site: http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/about/media/managed_security_ent_US_12Mar09.pdf

About Symantec’s Managed Security in the Enterprise Research

Symantec’s Managed Security in the Enterprise report is the result of a survey conducted in January of 2009 by Applied Research. The study targeted 1,000 IT and security professionals in mid to large enterprises and large public sector institutions located in the United States and five European countries (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain).

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organisations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

ENDS

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