A study by Asavie examined how COVID-19 has affected businesses and found that cyberattacks are the top concern for organisations navigating the pandemic.
While the rise in remote work has created new opportunities and productivity gains, it has also introduced significant security challenges. Threat actors are exploiting gaps in corporate defenses as employees work from home and use personal or unmanaged devices.
Thirty percent of organisations surveyed reported that enabling secure remote work and reliable VPN access has been a major challenge. In many cases, employees have become de facto IT administrators—procuring devices, installing software, and configuring services themselves, often without central oversight.
“Asavie’s global study highlights the urgent need for digital businesses to deliver seamless security and consistent access to applications and data, ensuring the best possible experience for employees and customers,” says Ralph Shaw, CEO of Asavie.
Traditionally, most companies have relied on WAN technologies provided by telecom operators, such as dedicated private networks, MPLS, and some SD-WAN solutions.
However, telecom providers have struggled to establish themselves as primary providers of secure remote access. Only 28 percent of businesses in North America, 5 percent in EMEA, and 3 percent in APAC reported sourcing remote access services from telcos.
“The fact that only 28% of enterprises in North America source remote access services from telecom operators highlights a significant market opportunity for mobile network operator partners,” Shaw adds.
By sector, Media & Telecoms (62%) reported the highest incidence of cybersecurity attacks, followed by Financial Services (60%) and Health & Life Sciences (50%).
“The future of work will require support for employees in diverse locations—home or temporary offices, pop-up points of sale, and staff on the move,” says Amit Gupta, CEO of Ecosystm. “Organisations must secure devices regardless of where people work or which networks they use.”
“CIOs and CISOs are recognising the growing burden of mobile workloads on remote devices and understand that private enterprise networks must be extended seamlessly to include mobile and IoT endpoints, whether for a single user or a large distributed team.”
Asavie’s full report is available here (registration required)
(Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash)
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss topics like these? Attend co-located events including the 5G Expo, IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series, with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam.