Keeping pace with security technology investments has been a key trend within security enterprises, as evidenced again by this year’s profiles of enterprise security executives (pages 46 to 54). Technology investments are largely driven by the need for enterprise security to gather intelligence, manage risk and ensure resilience. That cannot be done without situational awareness, which often can only be created by applying technology, whether it’s big data, video networks, situational awareness and more. It’s an “all hazards approach” that demands continued investment in security technology.

New data by Spiceworks echoes those sentiments by this year’s Security 500 profiles. According to the 2019 State of IT: Future Workplace Tech, by 2020, 86 percent of companies with more than 5,000 employees plan to adopt IoT solutions, 65 percent plan to deploy edge computing technology, 64 percent expect to use artificial intelligence and 56 percent expect to utilize blockchain-enabled technology.  

Even more, says the study: 

• 37 percent of organizations currently use IT automation, 36 percent use gigabit Wi-Fi networking and 27 percent use IoT technology, but by 2020, these figures are expected to jump to 58 percent, 61 percent and 48 percent, respectively. 
• 18 percent of organizations have adopted converged/hyperconverged infrastructure, 18 percent have deployed container technology and 15 percent are using 3D printers.
• 15 percent of organizations are using edge computing and 15 percent are using serverless computing, but by 2020, these figures are expected to jump to 31 percent and 34 percent, respectively. 
• With the exception of large enterprises, fewer companies have adopted virtual reality (14 percent), artificial intelligence (10 percent) or blockchain-enabled technology (9 percent).

In addition to investing in innovation, organizations are also investing in emerging security solutions to protect their networks from cyberattacks. The results show anti-ransomware solutions, employee security training tools (e.g., end user security testing) and hardware-based authentication (e.g., security tokens) have the highest current adoption rates at 43 percent, 41 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Fewer organizations are using IoT security solutions (17 percent), security solutions powered by AI (16 percent), or deception technology (15 percent).

Which industry is most proactive with the technology?  Financial services organizations are the earliest adopters of most emerging technologies, while government institutions lag other industries in most cases. For example, the financial services industry has the highest current adoption of IT automation (43 percent), serverless computing (23 percent), AI (21 percent) and blockchain technology (21 percent). In fact, an additional 22 percent of financial services organizations plan to adopt blockchain-enabled technology by 2020. Conversely, government organizations have the lowest adoption rates for most emerging technologies, including IoT (15 percent), edge computing (5 percent), AI (4 percent), and blockchain technology (2 percent).

Financial services organizations also have the highest current adoption rates for most emerging security solutions, including employee security training tools (52 percent), user behavior analytics tools (34 percent), cloud workload protection (28 percent), browser isolation (27 percent) and AI-powered security solutions (24 percent). However, government institutions are also behind the curve when it comes to the latest security tools. For example, only 36 percent of government organizations have adopted employee security training tools, nine percent have adopted browser isolation and only seven percent have adopted security solutions powered by AI. 

The study also shows that among emerging security solutions, 59 percent of IT decision makers believe employee security training tools are the most effective way to prevent security incidents, followed by breach detection systems (37 percent), anti-ransomware solutions (37 percent) and user behavior analytics (33 percent). 

What security technology are you employing, or do you have plans to employ and how is that technology having an impact in your security operations? I’d like to know. Please contact me at
ritcheyd@bnpmedia.com.