ESG Research Highlights Growing Cybersecurity Operational Challenges Despite Increase in Spending

Results identify key factors that are contributing to profound enterprise weaknesses in understanding and operationalising threat intelligence

London, UK – July 12, 2017 – ThreatQuotient™, a trusted threat intelligence platform innovator, today unveiled research results from Enterprise Strategy Group’s (ESG) 2017 Next-Generation Analytics and Operations Study. The study, which involved a survey of more than 400 IT and cybersecurity professionals, found that 72 percent feel cybersecurity analytics and operations is more difficult today than it was two years ago, and that the rapidly evolving threat landscape and growing volumes of security alarms are the most common challenges facing enterprises today. Despite increased spending, organisations are still looking for ways to increase efficiency and improve risk management. ESG’s research revealed that 31 percent of organisations are looking to use threat intelligence to help automate remediation tasks.

According to ESG, 89 percent of organisations use external threat intelligence, but IT professionals are still feeling that cyber adversaries are moving faster than network defenders can keep up. These challenges are amplified due to almost half of the organisations reporting a problematic shortage of cybersecurity skills, and admitting they still rely on manual processes and individuals to aggregate and analyse threat intelligence. While analysts work to combine more and more external threat data with internal data and events, organisations will continue to feel as though they are falling behind their adversaries. This need to combine and leverage data is driving automation.

“These findings demonstrate that while in its infancy, the value of threat intelligence as part of an integrated security operations strategy is critical,” said Jonathan Couch, SVP Strategy, ThreatQuotient. “Achieving meaningful threat operations and overcoming common challenges, such as unmanageable amounts of data and alerts, requires the use of a threat intelligence platform to continuously assess threats and prioritise those that are most important and relevant to an organisation.”

Spending is increasing, but so are the challenges of security operations and analytics. Enterprises are under staffed and feel they do not have the right people. This is where the true value of a threat intelligence platform designed to enable threat operations and management comes into play – by aggregating multiple external and internal threat data sources, reducing noise and maximising existing security investments, defenders are able to improve focus and efficiency by knowing exactly what to work on first.

“One of the reasons today’s approach to cybersecurity operations is not working is because it is based on too many tools and manual processes,” added Jon Oltsik, Senior Principal Analyst, ESG. “Leading companies are realising this, and moving towards a model based on a Security Operations and Analytics Platform Architecture (SOAPA). Utilising threat intelligence as a critical component to blend internal and external threat data by integrating network and endpoint tools can help organisations reach their goals of operationalising cyber threat intelligence in real time for risk mitigation and incident response.”

Jonathan Couch and Jon Oltsik will host a webinar on July 19, 2017 at 2:00pm ET US time to analyse ESG’s latest research, address why security analytics and operations become more difficult annually, as well as recommend beneficial cyber threat intelligence best practices. Registration and more information about the webinar, Using Threat Intelligence to Improve Security Operations, as well as ThreatQuotient and ESG infographic on the analytics and operations solutions that improve both cybersecurity and Jon Oltsik’s video briefing on the challenge cybersecurity and IT professional believe that cybersecurity analytics and operations is more difficult today than it was 2 years ago can also be found on this here.

About Enterprise Strategy Group

Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) is an integrated IT research, analysis, and strategy firm that is world-renowned for providing actionable insight and intelligence to the global IT community. Recognised for its unique blend of capabilities—including market research, hands-on technical product validation, and expert consulting methodologies such as the ESG Strategy Lifecycle—ESG is relied upon by IT professionals, technology vendors, investors, and the media to clarify the complex.

About ThreatQuotient

ThreatQuotient™ understands that the foundation of intelligence-driven security is people. The company’s open and extensible threat intelligence platform, ThreatQ, empowers security teams with the context, customisation and prioritisation needed to make better decisions, accelerate detection and response and advance team collaboration. Leading global companies use ThreatQ as the cornerstone of their threat operations and management system, increasing security effectiveness and efficiency. For more information, visit http://www.threatquotient.com.

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Imtiaz Mufti
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Shyla Soni
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