Traditional security policies often result in too many passwords, access protocols and workarounds that expose the business to risk. So it’s no wonder that in a recent survey, almost all of the respondents said that they see benefits in more context-aware cybersecurity practices.
Research from Dell Security has uncovered that more than 90% of business respondents use multiple passwords on a daily basis, and nearly 70% of IT professionals say that employee workarounds to avoid IT-imposed security measures pose the greatest risk to the business. Further, 92% of business respondents said that they are negatively impacted when required to use additional security for remote work.
But IT is interested in transitioning to an approach that puts context surrounding each access request and adapts security requirements accordingly. While only 28% of respondents have fully embraced a context-aware approach to security, 97% see the benefits in it.
According to the survey, some of those benefits include: The ability to prioritize threats based on context, including types of applications targeted; the ability to gain visibility into the context when assessing risk; the ability to address changing security needs in real-time and assess threats based on potential level of harm; and the ability to improve worker productivity without sacrificing security.
Without context, IT faces difficulty in quickly addressing changing security needs and an inability to analyze how/why restrictions are managed to improve worker productivity, respondents added.
“It’s undeniable that IT staff, business professionals, and employees struggle with security,” said John Milburn, executive director and general manager for identity and access management at Dell Security. The business puts security first above employee convenience, and, right now, IT thinks it has only two options for security—turn the dial to one (open) or 11 (super secure). Context-aware security gives IT the ability to adjust the dial in real-time, giving users the convenience they desire without resorting to risky workarounds, and giving the security team the confidence they need to keep the organization both safe and productive.”