How Cybersecurity Adoption is Surging as Threats Evolve

In recent years, global cybersecurity has undergone significant transformation, driven by the rapid adoption of cloud technologies and the shift towards remote and hybrid work models.

This evolution has created new vulnerabilities that cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting, forcing businesses to adapt their security strategies.

As organisations grapple with these challenges, there has been a growing trend towards integrating advanced networking and security solutions to create more robust defences against sophisticated cyber threats.

Tackling this challenge, GTT Communications has released a study shedding light on the current state of enterprise cybersecurity concerns and adoption of advanced security frameworks.

The report, titled "Trends and Solutions for a More Secure Perimeter", highlights the increasing importance of Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Security Service Edge (SSE) technologies in defending against modern cybersecurity threats.

Key findings and implications

The study, conducted by Hanover Research on behalf of GTT, surveyed 314 IT, infrastructure, networking, security and other managers from various industries worldwide. 

Each respondent represented organisations with at least five enterprise network locations and annual revenues of US$200m or more.

According to the report, undetected vulnerabilities, ransomware, data theft and network interruptions are the most pressing concerns for IT leaders.

These concerns were closely ranked, with only a 3% point difference in response rates ranging from 46% to 43%.

Tom Major, Senior Vice President of Product Management and Technology at GTT, emphasises the particular danger of undetected vulnerabilities: "Undetected vulnerabilities can be particularly damaging because they allow threats to persist undetected, potentially leading to the silent exploitation of networks over an extended period".

Tom further elaborated on the potential consequences of these vulnerabilities, explaining: "Once inside, a hacker can steal sensitive data, exfiltrate intellectual property, disrupt operations, plant further malware and use the compromised network to launch attacks on others — all without being detected".

Adoption of advanced security frameworks

To combat these threats, the study found that 35% of enterprises have implemented a SASE framework, while 42% have deployed SSE solutions.

These figures indicate a significant shift towards more integrated and comprehensive security approaches.

SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), is a network architecture that combines VPN and SD-WAN capabilities with cloud-native security functions.

Whilst SSE (Security Service Edge), is a related concept that focuses on the security services component of SASE.

The adoption of these frameworks reflects a growing recognition of the need for more comprehensive and flexible security solutions in today's rapidly evolving threats.

As organisations continue to embrace cloud-first strategies and support remote work, traditional perimeter-based security approaches are becoming increasingly inadequate.

Tom highlights the benefits of these frameworks: "Organisations that deploy a layered framework like SASE can bring about the comprehensive shift to a zero-trust corporate security posture, enabling employees to maintain simple and secure access to data and applications anywhere in the world".

Collaboration between security and networking teams

GTT also revealed a trend towards greater integration between security and networking teams in managing these advanced solutions.

About two-thirds of security and networking teams work together to manage SD-WAN, SASE and SSE solutions where they have been deployed.

This collaboration reflects the growing recognition that effective cybersecurity in today's complex threat landscape requires a holistic approach that combines networking expertise with security knowledge.

Additionally, as cyber threats become more sophisticated and network architectures more complex, the traditional siloes between networking and security teams are breaking down.

Kimberly Pate, Managing Research Director at Hanover Research, commented on this trend: "This is driving stronger collaboration between security and networking teams, as they work together to integrate security measures directly into their network infrastructures for enhanced protection and agility".

Rather than relying on reactive measures to address threats as they arise, organisations are increasingly looking to build security into the fabric of their networks from the ground up.

"The survey results indicate that enterprises today are entering into an increasingly complex and sophisticated threat landscape posing unprecedented risks to their operations," Kimberly concluded, underscoring the urgent need for organisations to adapt their security strategies to meet these evolving challenges.

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