How False Positives Plague IT Departments

How False Positives Plague IT Departments

How False Positives Plague IT DepartmentsHow False Positives Plague IT Departments

As organizations struggle to enact a strategy that helps detect and prevent security threats, too many false positives burn up time and energy in IT departments.

Out-of-the-Loop C-Level ExecsOut-of-the-Loop C-Level Execs

34% of surveyed security pros said CEOs and other C-level executives are in the dark about cyber-attacks against their companies. But 63% admit their companies have been victimized by one or more advanced attacks during the past 12 months.

Necessary Intelligence LackingNecessary Intelligence Lacking

39% of respondents do not believe their company has the necessary intelligence to convince the C-suite about the threats the company faces.

Some Slow to Detect AttacksSome Slow to Detect Attacks

21% of respondents say they took between 1-2 years to detect an attack. 21% took from 1-6 months to contain the breach.

Others Discover Attacks Within HoursOthers Discover Attacks Within Hours

30% of companies discovered an attack between 1-8 hours after it occurred. 28% contained a breach in 1-8 hours.

Malware Remains a ChallengeMalware Remains a Challenge

68% of respondents say their security team spends a significant amount of time chasing false positives of malware attacks.

More About False PositivesMore About False Positives

On average, 29% of all malware alerts are investigated and on average 40% are false positives. Only 18% of respondents say their malware detection tool tells them the risk level for each incident.

Wide Range of Security Budget ExpectationsWide Range of Security Budget Expectations

The average cyber-security budget is $16 million, 34% of which will be allocated to incident response efforts. 50% of respondents say their budget will remain the same, 37% are expected to increase, and 13% expect it to decrease this year.

Activity Blindness Across NetworksActivity Blindness Across Networks

67% of companies “lack visibility of threat activity” across their network.

Dearth of ExpertiseDearth of Expertise

63% of respondents cannot prioritize threats. 55% lack in-house expertise.

Unnecessary Re-imaging of EndpointsUnnecessary Re-imaging of Endpoints

51% of respondents re-image endpoints based on malware detected in the network. 33% of these are done without knowing whether there really was an infection. Re-imaging is the time-consuming process of wiping out a device’s information and reinstalling everything.

Karen A. Frenkel
Karen A. Frenkel
Karen A. Frenkel is a contributor to CIO Insight. She covers cybersecurity topics such as digital transformation, vulnerabilities, phishing, malware, and information governance.

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