CIOs point out that organizations often suffer from higher complexity, costs and reduced efficiency when too many security solutions are deployed
IT leaders say that cybersecurity tools are critical for any organization. They agree that often tools overlap due to the slightest change in the features. When too many tools are implemented, it’s very likely that redundancy will exist in the infrastructure. Security leaders say that most major organizations use over 100 tools on an average.
Most of these tools are required to manage effectiveness, reduce complexity, and manage the costs of the business. CIOs say that while organizations are always on the lookout for the latest security tools, most of them don’t decommission the previous set of tools, causing costs to increase. The normal system architecture has to now navigate through the complex security framework. This results in drastically reduced effectiveness of any software.
CIOs point out that security tools often result in an imbalance between OT and IT. This complexity may affect or complicate the overall security posture. A unified solution for the endpoint management system is required.
IT leaders acknowledge that investments have been made in a range of solutions to combat with intense pressure faced by most organizations. However, IT Security leaders say that most of these solutions work in silos, resulting in misalignment and restriction in control and the visibility required for securing the platform.
Read More: Only 34% of Organizations Are Applying Basic Cloud Security Tools
Issues from too many tools lead to a reduction in productivity. This adds to maintenance costs and the team wastes time on tools that may not be used extensively within the team. Security leaders say that their teams are often left spending more time on the maintenance of the tools rather than defending the system from malicious attacks.
Most organizations find it easier to buy a new tool when faced with a new type of attack rather than identifying, attracting, training/retraining, and retaining resources. IT leaders find it difficult to carve out time for strategic planning as compared to tactical planning. Under the current circumstances, there is a high chance that immediate risk investments could suffer and related budgets will disappear if not used effectively, fast.
Most organizations fail to plan on the optimal leverage of the security tools and fall short of deriving maximum benefits. While IT leaders encourage highlighting redundant and overlapping security tools, this practice is different as compared to layered security. In layered security platforms only slightly clip on each other but with redundant tools, there’s a huge amount of overlapping.
Read More: Cybersecurity threatened by expired machine identities and unverified adoption of tools
CIOs say that by listing out the overlapped tools, organizations can consolidate on fewer numbers of effective tools. When significant gaps are identified, organizations can opt to buy niche tools. Doing such strategic analysis will require a significant amount of time but will prove to be beneficial in the long run. CISOs will have to create carefully analyzed long term strategies and also solutions for redundant tools.
IT leaders point out that when multiple tools are replaced by less number of tools, licenses need to be aligned as near as possible to avoid potential additional and non-essential costs. The replacement tools should be implemented near the renewal date of the previous tools.
