Is Cyber Security Meeting Today’s Intensifying Challenges? – Whitepaper

Cybersecurity has always been critical, but it’s taken on new urgency today. Cyberattacks have escalated in intensity and volume. At the same time, IT is experiencing the pressing challenges of a technology modernization revolution. Driving this tech revolution are remote work environments, a skills shortage and unprecedented growth in cloud deployments. These developments bring increasing requirements to proactively secure environments, deflect risks and rapidly respond to cyberattacks. In September 2021, Rackspace Technology® conducted a global survey to discover the current state of cybersecurity across organizations, industries and regions. Here’s some information about the audience (see Appendix for full audience profile): • 1,420 IT professionals • CSOs, CISOs, CIOs, CTOs, IT Directors and other senior IT decision makers • Located in 10 countries • Working in multiple industries, including manufacturing, financial services, retail, healthcare, hospitality and the public sector A central cautionary tale emerged from the data: Half of global IT leaders say they are not “fully confident” in their ability to respond to attacks on data, supply chains, clouds, IoT and applications. Further, when asked about their attack response capabilities, fewer than half (45%) of respondents say they can effectively respond to incidents, mitigate threats (43%), or understand the nature of the threats they are facing (42%). Other key findings reveal widespread uncertainty that IT organizations possess the talent and skills to meet cybersecurity challenges, with 86% of respondents saying their organizations lack the necessary skills and expertise to respond to a growing array of threats. This report is intended to help organizations that are building and securing cloud-based solutions to assess where they stand in relation both to current cybersecurity defensive demands and security practices of their IT peers. These insights can be used as a guide to assess their cybersecurity posture and guide their security strategy. The desired outcomes are stronger programs that better meet the demands of today’s increasingly complex security landscape.