Survey reveals how CISOs are shifting priotities and security strategies to manage increasingly advanced threats with limited resources 

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced a new report by Forbes Insights it commissioned titled “Making Tough Choices: How CISOs Manage Escalating Threats and Limited Resources.” The global survey polled CISOs across various industries about the biggest challenges they’re facing and strategies they’re putting in place to address these obstacles. 

The survey found that 84 percent of CISOs believe the risks of cyber attacks will increase and almost a quarter believe the capabilities of attackers are outpacing their ability to defend their organization. This issue is compounded with limited resources, including lack of sufficient budget and skilled professionals as well as a threat attack surface that is quickly expanding and becoming more sophisticated. Because of this, security leaders understand it is critical to have the right strategies in place as they face an arms race between the capabilities of attackers and their own defense postures.   

“The Forbes Insights survey echoes the primary challenges we hear directly from Fortinet customers and prospects. Today’s CISOs are tasked with the challenge of allocating limited funds and resources to the highest-return cybersecurity projects which can range from breach detection to response. These C-level security leaders must maximize security with finite resources, all while balancing strategic leadership responsibilities and tactical issues. Through the Fortinet Security Fabric, Fortinet is providing end-to-end security so that CISOs can navigate a rapidly changing cyber threat landscape day in and day out,” said John Maddison, EVP of products at Fortinet. 

Other key takeaways from the Forbes Insights report include:

• CISOs are increasingly implementing AI technologies to cybersecurity. Forty-eight percent of security leaders are focused on seamlessly integrating security into their network operations and 45 percent are shifting and changing their cybersecurity strategy toward advanced analytics for greater visibility into their environments. AI, like machine learning, and analytics relieves IT teams time away from monotonous tasks, so they can focus on business-critial tasks such as identifying anomalous behavior in their networks and responding to threats quickly.

• CISOs would like to allocate more of their budget to detection and response.According to the survey, security leaders are currently allocating an average if 36 percent of their security budet on response. However, in an ideal world, they would shift their resources from prevention to bolster detection and response. The survey found they’d increase response to be 40 percent of their budget. 

• Cybersecurity training and education for employees is key. The Forbes Insights survey found that CISOs believe talent and training constraints have a significant impact on their organizations. As a result, CISOs are paying more attention to educating their own employees on best practices and building cybersecurity awareness in order to prevent and reduce internal threats. 

• CISO are constrained by the lack of an adequate budget.While threats are expanding, CISOs find that there resources, including budget, remain limited. A third of CISOs surveyed in the report felt that the lack of an adequate budget is having a significant impact on their cybersecurity program. 

• A top priority for CISOs is safeguarding customer data and intellectual property.More than a third of respondents said protecting their organization’s brand is top of mind. More than 36 percent of CISOs selected customer data as the highest priority for protection. A majority of respondants also shared they are focusing on protecting intellectual property as one of the most important assets in their care, which they believe is another core target of most malicious actors.

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, has announced its participation at GITEX Technology Week taking place between 06 -10 October 2019 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. In its 10th appearance at GITEX, the company will be demonstrating its revolutionary Aruba Experience Edge Platform – that intuitively assimilates existing cloud, mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) data into a simple, single system to transform customer experiences at the Edge.

Commenting on the company’s participation at GITEX, Jacob Chacko, Regional Business Head – Middle East & Saudi at Aruba says, “Aruba’s Edge platform is designed to provide simple, secure and smart networking, to support integrated experiences without compromising simplicity for end users. Smart workplaces, schools, stores, hotels, hospitals, and factories can all deliver amazing experiences through this platform. GITEX, with its position as the Middle East’s largest tech exhibition and networking platform, is the perfect venue for us to showcase our technology innovations and drive key discussions with customers and partners.”

Aruba’s Edge platform powers the digital enterprise. Category leaders can take advantage of the experience and digital era and deliver smart experiences by blending mobile, cloud, and IoT. The following scenarios will become a reality:

• Workplace Productivity – Employees at work can collaborate instantly in smart meeting rooms
• Retail Engagement – Shoppers in stores will be able to use mobile personalized assistance in the palm of their hand
• Hotel Personalization – Guests in hotels can mobile check-in and check-out and get a personalized in-room experience as if they were at home
• Educational Excellence – Students can get state-of-the-art mobile and digital learning and stay connected whether in or out of the classroom
• Patient Satisfaction – Patients in hospitals can get the best care with connected in-room services that give doctors and nurses information at their fingertips

At GITEX, Aruba will showcase its latest technologies addressing the needs of the digital era including: 

• Wi-Fi 6 & Switching – Seamless, secure connectivity everywhere along with a breakthrough campus core switch that extends intelligence from the edge to the core.
• Cloud-Based Networking – Aruba Central is a unified network operations, assurance and security platform that simplifies the deployment, management, and service assurance of wireless, wired and SD-WAN environments
• Aruba AI-based Analytics, Assurance & Security – Harvesting data from the Edge for the optimal User- & IT-Experience, Aruba uses AI-Based in 3 key area’s – network-based analytics, user-based analytics and network security. 

Trade visitors to the Aruba stand at GITEX can also take advantage of Aruba’s Networking Product Wizard which provides an optimized network design in under two minutes. With a few clicks, it will recommend the right switches, access points and network management solution, right-sized for a particular business, based on number of users, location, network use and performance needs. 

Aruba will be exhibiting at stand number H7-A1 in Hall 7 alongside Hewlett Packard Enterprise.