SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - March 10, 2008) - Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) today announced a final
set of findings from annual research on remote workers' impact on corporate
security, revealing that three of every five IT decision makers plan to
increase security spending within the next year.
Commissioned by Cisco and conducted by InsightExpress, a third-party market
research firm, the study features surveys of more than 2,000 remote workers
and IT professionals from various industries in 10 countries: the United
States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, India,
Australia, and Brazil. While the first set of results released last month
center on remote workers' security perceptions, online behavior, and their
rationale for risky actions, today's findings focus on the implications
that employees have on IT, and particularly the resulting financial burden.
Sixty-two percent of the IT respondents reported that they will increase
spending in 2008, and of those, more than half (37 percent) said their
increased security investments will rise by more than 10 percent as
compared to their previous years' budgets.
Global Demographics' Influence on the Behavior-Spending Connection
The findings indicate that spending will increase based on the financial
losses that businesses suffer from attacks on corporate networks and
employees -- including employees who work outside of the office. One of the
most intriguing findings involves global demographics, which play a
significant role in worldwide security spending trends. The highest
percentage of IT decision makers who plan to boost spending are from
nations that are relative newcomers to widespread Internet and IP-based
corporate networking. Of the 10 countries in the study, China, India, and
Brazil feature the highest number of IT decision makers who are not only
planning to increase spending in general, but the largest percentage who
will increase security investments by more than 10 percent year-over-year.
According to John N. Stewart, Cisco's chief security officer, large
populations of network-dependent employees in China, India, and Brazil were
not overwhelmed by Code Red, NIMDA, and the other notorious malware attacks
as pervasively as in Internet-dependent, consumer-based economies like the
United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. However, today
they represent three of the world's fastest growing economies, and their
dependence on the Internet and corporate networks is rising rapidly. The
study indicates that risky behavior from remote workers in these three
countries, such as opening suspicious emails, hijacking wireless networks
from neighbors, or sharing corporate devices with non-employees, is much
more extensive than in nations that feature a longer history of corporate
Internet use.
"During the past few years, virus attacks caused the most damage in
countries where Internet adoption was greatest," Stewart said. "As new
countries increase adoption, those that drive the new Internet growth can
learn from others to understand the inherent security challenges --
especially those who use the Internet to shop or work remotely. Remote
workers often represent the intersection of 'employee' and 'consumer,' a
connection point where attacks target and exploit the networks and
corporate devices that remote workers use away from their offices. For
multinational corporations and the IT departments that support them,
understanding their employee's level of security awareness and experience
is key in fostering tighter relationships, building trust, and
administering effective education programs that will ultimately help to
protect the enterprise."
Although China, India, and Brazil grabbed the spotlight, the spending trend
is not relegated to emerging economies. More than half of the IT
respondents in eight of the 10 countries are planning to increase security
spending this year.
-- Total: 62 percent (37 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- India: 83 percent (60 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- China: 83 percent (58 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- Brazil: 68 percent (56 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- Germany: 61 percent (31 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- Italy: 60 percent (35 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- U.K.: 58 percent (29 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- Australia: 55 percent (30 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- U.S.: 53 percent (27 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- France: 49 percent (22 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
-- Japan: 24 percent (15 percent to increase spending more than 10
percent)
Putting It in Perspective: The Difference Between "Good" And "Bad" Spending
Security is a real-life business requirement, and Stewart affirms that the
research provides global intelligence for IT organizations to take a
practical approach to protecting their companies and employees, especially
as they become more distributed. Just as IT budgets are a necessity, so too
is security spending. What's important, he said, is to understand the
delineation between what's considered "acceptable" and "unacceptable"
spending. The goal is to prevent spending on reactive security
"firefighting."
"Businesses need firewalls, virtual private networks, and data protection
technologies," Stewart adds. "The challenge is how to minimize other costs
that could have been prevented through sustained education of employees,
such as managing malware outbreaks and data theft. Awareness, as the most
effective tool, is not new thinking; the new thinking is how IT is leading
the combined people, process, and technology to protect the enterprise most
effectively. Increasing employee awareness through sustained education
reduces threats, attacks, and the painful pricetags they typically carry."
The study's key findings will be spotlighted by Stewart and other security
experts as part of a live Internet TV broadcast today from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
PDT on ways for businesses to protect their employees, assets, and bottom
lines (to attend:
http://tools.cisco.com/cmn/jsp/index.jsp?id=70349).
About Cisco
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Contact Information: Media Relations:
Neil Wu Becker
Cisco Systems, Inc.
408 525-7415
nebecker@cisco.com
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Sarita Kincaid
Cisco Systems, Inc.
408 525 0733
skincaid@cisco.com
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Cisco Systems, Inc.
408 527 9830
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