Securing the cloud and protecting vulnerability in IT systems are the two greatest concerns for IT decision-makers in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) enterprises.
This is according to the new 2016 Fortinet Global Security Survey, which involved of over 530 IT decision-makers at 250 plus employee organisations across EMEA.
According to the study, present security infrastructures have struggled to contend with the realities of an increasingly digital world.
Of the half (52%) of all EMEA IT decision-makers in the survey who reported a security breach in the last year, only 16% of them realised this within minutes of the breach occurring, it says.
In some sectors, such as healthcare, it took 50% of respondent days, months or even years to spot breaches, adds the study.
To mitigate these attacks and better protect their organisations, the number one action undertaken by information technology decision-makers is the use of threat detection technologies (17%), closely followed by cloud-based cyber security services (12%), says Fortinet.
Such capabilities are underpinned by the provision of actionable threat intelligence, it says.
Patrice Perche, senior executive vice president worldwide sales and support at Fortinet, says the study highlights the urgent need among enterprise-scale organisations from all sectors in EMEA to prioritise end-to-end cyber security protection with actionable, threat intelligence capabilities in the face of new digital business challenges.
Perche says enterprises need to respond more rapidly and effectively to security breaches by investing in integrated, adaptive cyber security architectures for the borderless network.
"IT decision-makers understandably want more resources to combat threats from all directions, but the answer doesn't have to come in the form of spending more or ripping and replacing existing solutions," says Paul Williams, country manager SADC at Fortinet.
The study says many see increased security breaches as a catalyst for outsourcing cyber security functions to a managed security service provider.
The research found that within three to five years, 44% of EMEA organisations could be addressing their cyber security priorities through outsourcing.
The forecast for cyber security outsourcing adoption is highest in Germany (where a 14% of all organisations will make the switch) and slowest in Spain (4%).
KPMG says well-managed, cyber security can become a strategic edge and competitive advantage for outsourced vendors in emerging markets.
While developed markets may today bear the brunt of cyber breaches, emerging markets are no less vulnerable, it adds.
Their risks arise from weak processes and governance, the complexity of global supply chains, the need to remain low cost to attract investment, and the rapid adoption of technology without adequate cyber defences, says KPMG.
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