Security Concerns Scupper Deals for Two-Thirds of Firms

Two-thirds (67%) of global organizations have admitted to losing out on acquiring potential customers due to concerns about their security posture, according to LogRhythm.

The security vendor polled 1175 security professionals and executives across five continents to compile its latest report, The State of the Security Team 2022.

It found that security due diligence among customers and partners is increasingly rigorous.

Some 91% of respondents said that their security strategy must now align with customers’ security policies and standards, while 85% claimed their company must provide proof that they meet partners’ security requirements.

There was more worrying news from the report: 70% of respondents reported an increase in workplace stress for security teams, with nearly a third (30%) citing a “significant” increase.

Among the key stress factors highlighted in the study were growing attack sophistication, greater responsibilities and increasing attack frequency.

Two-fifths (41%) claimed that better integrated solutions would help to relieve these pressures, while a similar number (42%) pointed to the need for more experienced security professionals.

The latter would seem unlikely, given the coming recession’s likely impact on budgets, and persistent industry skills shortages.

The gap is now 3.4 million globally, including 56,800 in the UK, a massive 73% year-on-year increase, according to ISC2.

However, there was some good news from LogRhythm: the number of respondents agreeing that they are getting sufficient executive support almost doubled, from 43% in the vendor’s 2020 report to 83% in this edition.

“Given the increasing complexity and severity of cyber-threats organizations are experiencing, cybersecurity is now a business imperative,” said Andrew Hollister, CSO of LogRhythm.

“Security events hold the potential to significantly impact revenue, which begs the attention of executive leadership and pushes more organizations to align on expectations both internally and externally.”