Citrix study confirms UAE security technology is outdated

A study by Citrix and the Ponemon Institute on IT security infrastructure found that less than half (40 percent) of UAE based respondents said their organisation has security policies in place to ensure employees and third parties only have the appropriate access to sensitive business information.

Adding to their concern is that nearly 79 percent of business respondents said that some of their existing security solutions are outdated and inadequate.

There is no one-size-fits-all security solution to address the threat landscape that businesses in the UAE face. Globally, billions of dollars have been invested into IT security solutions and increasing annual security budgets has been an imperative. In fact, 99% of UAE respondents stated they will spend over a million dollars in 2017, however, many of the systems and people in place are still not able to handle today’s threats.

Security threats increase as more devices crowd networks and as people have more freedom to work from anywhere, on any device. More devices, especially bring your own (BYO) devices are the new norm, and businesses need to put information security at the top of their priority list to ensure apps and data are secure no matter where they reside or are accessed. On top of this, businesses need skilled staff to plan how they will reduce risk and improve the security of their applications and data.

Top security concerns confirmed in the study:

• Poor security deployments: 71 percent said their organisation had made investments in IT security technology that was not successfully deployed.
• Unapproved apps and unmanaged data: Just 32 percent of respondents said their organisation is able to reduce the inherent risk of unapproved applications, with 33% expressing the same sentiment when asked about unmanaged data.
• Talent pool is small: Only 36 percent said their organisation is successfully hiring knowledgeable and experienced security practitioners.

Arthur Dell, Director, Technology Services, Middle East and Africa, Citrix, said, “The UAE’s constantly evolving cybersecurity threat landscape requires a new, more flexible IT security framework – one that extends beyond traditional fixed end-point security approaches to deliver threat detection and protection of apps and data at all stages. Citrix is committed to delivering robust solutions that are designed with data security in mind.”