Network Security Survey: 52 Percent of Companies Rely on a "Moat & Castle"

According to a new survey sponsored by Preventsys (www.preventsys.com) and Qualys (www.qualys.com), 52 percent of chief information security officers acknowledged having a "Moat & Castle" approach to their overall network security.

They admitted that once the perimeter security is penetrated, their networks are at risk. Yet, 48 percent consider themselves to be "proactive" when it comes to network security and feel that they have a good grasp on their enterprise's security posture. This runs counter to the reactive, perimeter-based security approach noted by more than half of the respondents.

The survey was conducted during a recent CISO executive breakfast seminar series where the CEO's of Preventsys and Qualys, along with other top-level security professionals discussed proven ways to convey departmental progress.

They spoke on effective methods for justifying budgets, setting achievable security goals, and tying information security directly to business initiatives to improve communication between IT and upper management.

According to the survey, 24 percent felt their security was akin to Fort Knox — it would take a small army to get through; while 10 percent compared their network security to Swiss cheese, security holes inside and out.

Preventsys and Qualys also found that 46 percent of security officers spend more than a third of their day, and in some cases as much as 7 hours, analyzing reports generated from their various security point solutions.

"We conducted this survey to gain further insight into the daily issues facing CISOs. We were intrigued by the contradictory findings — CISOs like to think they are proactively addressing network security, but when we look closer, that is not always the case," said Tom Kuhr, vice president of marketing at Preventsys.

The most pressing concerns for CISOs this year are protecting their networks from the unknown (32 percent) and achieving and measuring regulatory compliance (28 percent).

On a positive note, the survey revealed a positive trend in spending, with all respondents reporting that budgets are either holding stable or increasing in 2005.