Delinea, a leading provider of Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions for seamless security, has announced findings from a global survey of 2,100 IT security decision-makers. The report reveals that 60% of respondents believe their overall security strategy does not keep pace with the threat landscape and that they are either lagging behind (20%), treading water (13%) or merely running to keep up (27%).
Conducted in more than 20 countries, the research polled attitudes towards identity security and the protection of privileged identities.
The report also highlights differences between the perceived and actual effectiveness of security strategies. While 40% of respondents believe they have the right strategy in place, 84% of organisations reported that they have experienced an identity-related breach or an attack using stolen credentials during the previous year and a half.
Compared to other countries, respondents from the UAE and KSA show a higher level of scepticism toward their security strategies, as more than half (53%) believe their overall security strategy is ‘in the doldrums’ and requires a reinvigoration of cybersecurity across the organisation, with only 16% stating they are able to keep pace with the threat landscape. At the same time, a staggering 91% reported that they experienced an identity-related breach or an attack using stolen credentials during the previous year and a half.
Identity security is a priority, yet board buy-in is critical
Promisingly, many organisations are hungry to make a change, particularly when it comes to protecting identities. In-line with the global findings, 94% of UAE and Saudi respondents (90% globally) state that their organisations fully recognise the importance of identity security in enabling them to achieve their business goals and 86% say that it is one of the most important security priorities for the next 12 months.
However, 85% of UAE and Saudi respondents (75% globally) also believe that they’ll fall short of protecting privileged identities because they won’t get the support they need. This is largely due to a lack of budget and executive alignment, with 68% of regional respondents saying that their company’s board still doesn’t fully understand identity security and the role it plays in enabling better business operations.
“While the importance of identity security is acknowledged by business leaders, most Middle East security teams will not receive the backing and budget they need to put vital security controls and solutions in place to reduce major risks,” said Joseph Carson, Chief Security Scientist and Advisory CISO at Delinea. “This means that the majority of organisations will continue to fall short of protecting privileges, leaving them vulnerable to cybercriminals looking to discover privileged accounts and abuse them.”