Over half of cyber security technologies in M’sia outdated: Cisco

• Critical for companies to refresh technologies in cybersecurity infrastructure
• Respondents find their cybersecurity infrastructure unreliable, complex.

Malaysian companies must critically address and refresh the cyber secruity technologies and solutions they use, according to findings of the latest study by Cisco Systems Inc.

Dubbed Security Outcomes Study Volume 2, the Cisco study claimed that 60% of cybersecurity technologies used by companies in Malaysia are considered outdated by security and privacy professionals working at these organisations.

Culled from a study based on a global survey of more than 5,100 security and privacy professionals across 27 markets, the survey includes more than 2,000 professionals from 13 markets in Asia-Pacific.

The survey aimed at determining the most impactful measures teams can take to defend their organisations against the evolving threat landscape, it said.

Respondents, including professionals from companies in Malaysia, shared their approaches to updating and integrating their security architecture, detecting, and responding to threats and staying resilient when disaster strikes.

The study however did not specify how many Malaysian cyber security professionals were polled.

These respondents considered their cyber security infrastructure unreliable and complex, with 60% and 57% respectively highlighting this in the survey, Cisco added.

However, Malaysian companies are addressing this by investing in modern cyber security technologies and approaches to address this and improve their security posture, the findings indicated.

It highlighted that more than eight in 10 (81%) respondents in Malaysia said their company is investing in ‘Zero Trust’ strategy, with 53% saying their organisation is making steady progress with adopting the technology, while 27% saying they are at a mature state of implementing it.

Additionally, 84% respondents said their company is investing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, with 53% saying they are making good progress with adopting and 31% saying their implementation of the same is at mature levels, the report said.

These two approaches are key to building a strong security posture for companies in the modern cloud-first and application-centric world, Cisco said.

Organisations are facing multiple challenges while operating in this environment including, complexity in connecting users to applications and data across multiple cloud platforms, Cisco said.

There are also inconsistent security policies across disparate locations and networks, difficulties in verifying identity of users and devices, and the lack of end-to-end visibility of their security infrastructure, it said.

Simply put, SASE combines networking and security functions in the cloud to deliver secure access to applications anywhere users work.

Zero-Trust is a simple concept that involves verifying the identity of each user and device every time they access an organisation’s network to reduce the security risk.

Cisco claimed organisations that have mature implementations of Zero Trust or SASE architectures are 35% more likely to report strong security operations than those with nascent implementations.

Hana Raja (pic), managing director, Cisco Malaysia said businesses across the globe, including here in Malaysia, have seen a huge change in their operating models, driven in large part by the pandemic.

“As they grapple with changes like a distributed workforce and digital-first interactions, businesses need an integrated security architecture to connect users seamlessly to the applications and data they need to access, in any environment and from any location,” she argued.

Over half of cyber security technologies in M'sia outdated: CiscoMeanwhile Juan Huat Koo (pic), director cybersecurity for Asean at Cisco, “Cisco’s latest study provides great insights for security practitioners on what really works when it comes to building a strong security posture, thereby taking the guesswork out of what they should focus on and prioritize to keep the business and users safe.”

Among other key global findings of the study include:

Organisations that leverage threat intelligence achieve faster mean time to repair, with rates 50% lower than those of non-intel users;
Automation more than doubles the performance of less experienced staff, supporting organisations through skills and labor shortages;
Organisations with board-level oversight of business continuity and disaster recovery efforts that have operations residing within cybersecurity teams perform best.

source: https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/business/over-half-cyber-security-technologies-msia-outdated-cisco