Security priorities for the post-coronavirus world

Thanks to Executive Committee Member Nick Karas for this article at this important time. The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing massive change across the business world and things may never go back to normal. What does security look like in this new world, and what will buyers be prioritising?

Earlier in 2020, Computer Weekly and TechTarget published the results of our annual IT Priorities study, a wide-ranging look at what is currently top of mind for IT buyers. Amid overall softening budgets across the IT landscape, the survey reported that security and risk management were easily top of the heap, with cyber security coming to be seen as more important than cost.

 The top-level data revealed that 41% of responsible buyers planned to increase investment in security in order to address new threats, and compliance and regulatory requirements as part of wider digital transformation initiatives.

 In terms of security to address compliance and risk issues, end-user training emerged in the data as the top priority, cited by just under 70% of respondents. This was closely followed by governance, risk and compliance software and tools, cited by 63%, with fewer respondents considering fraud detection systems, zero-trust technology and digital forensics.

 But everything changed when the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic struck. For organisations that have been able to implement universal remote working during national lockdowns, the initial challenge was to secure home workers accessing corporate networks from beyond the traditional secure perimeter.

 Taken at face value, this could be read as security getting back to basics, but in reality this is far from the case. So now that the initial panic has subsided and the business world has settled into something of a routine, how do these priorities differ – and do they differ at all?

Click here to read more: https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/What-are-the-security-priorities-for-the-post-coronavirus-world