Network engineers and CIOs agree that cybersecurity issues represent the biggest risk for organisations that fail to put networks at the heart of digital-transformation plans.
According to research commissioned by Opengear, 53 per cent of network engineers and 52 per cent of CIOs polled in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia rank cybersecurity among the list of their biggest risks.
The concerns are fueled by an escalating number of cyberattacks. In fact, 61 per cent of CIOs report an increase in cybersecurity attacks/breaches from 2020-21 compared to the preceding two years. For the digital transformation of networking, 70 per cent of network engineers say security is the most important focus area, and 31 per cent say network security is their biggest networking priority.
CIOs also understand the importance of the issues. More than half (51%) of network engineers say their CIOs have consulted them on investments to deliver digital transformation plans, the highest priority in the survey.
What’s more, 41 per cent of CIOs rank cybersecurity among their organisation’s most important investment priorities over the next year, with 35 per cent stating it is among the biggest over the next five years. In both cases, cybersecurity ranks higher than any other factor.
Gary Marks, President of Opengear said, “through the pandemic, we have seen the importance of cybersecurity skyrocket for businesses as employees switch to working remotely and cyber-criminals ramp up their activity. Forward-thinking businesses understand these challenges and the importance of investing more in security and ensuring it is woven more closely into the fabric of their networks and digital transformation efforts.”
