Over two-thirds (67%) of European organizations have adopted or are planning to adopt a zero-trust framework in response to an evolving threat landscape, according to a new study by Gigamon.
In a survey of 500 IT and security decision makers across Germany, France and the UK, 84% of respondents reported seeing an increase in threats since the start of 2020. The biggest issues highlighted were increased vulnerabilities from insecure devices as a result of home working (51%) and a rise in phishing attacks (41%) and data breaches (33%).
The respondents cited digital transformation (50%), shadow IT (45%) and employee education (37%) as the biggest internal IT and security challenges over the next 12 months to three years.
As a result of these threats, a strong desire to implement a zero-trust architecture was highlighted. The most important factors in doing so were found to be: to make networks more secure and mitigate risk (54%), to ensure data is better protected and easier to manage (51%) and to reduce the risk of employees compromising the system (49%).
Close to two-thirds (61%) said that zero-trust would enhance their IT strategy, and 30% expressed a belief that this approach would underpin their strategy.
Bassam Khan, VP product and technical marketing engineering at Gigamon, commented: “This research dives into issues that IT and security professionals face, the causes of these issues and frameworks IT is adopting, following a major global shift in how work gets done. With rapid changes and an ever-growing attack surface, IT and security teams are beginning to rely on a solid framework to better manage risks.”
In addition, around one-third of those polled (30%) agreed that zero-trust should absolutely be discussed at board level, while 24% thought it should be a priority at any boardroom table given the current climate.
Khan added: “With digital strategies pivoting to accommodate the economic uncertainty and unprecedented change caused by the new normal, security is only going to become a more prominent topic at the C-level. It is interesting to see that elements of the zero-trust journey are already being discussed, and hopefully this will continue, as board support is vital for the implementation and success of any zero-trust initiative.”