General IT operations groups and IT cyber security teams need to work very closely together in order to accomplish their objectives. However, the two groups’ goals sometimes conflict with one another. IT operations folks want to provide fast, convenient service to their end-users. But the security team needs to make sure the users and the networks are secure – which sometimes results in slower or less convenient service.
To better understand how businesses are managing those sometimes conflicting goals and relationships, Dark Reading and InformationWeek surveyed 115 cyber security and technology professionals, primarily in North America.
The 2020 State of IT Operations and Cybersecurity Operations survey revealed three distinct but related trends in this relationship. First, business leaders are growing more aware of and concerned about cyber security. They are being vocal about their support of security concerns and increasing security budgets. Second, perhaps as a result of these concerns, security personnel are taking on new and broader responsibilities within the organisation. They are becoming involved in projects at an earlier stage, and they are taking on some tasks that IT operations staff formerly performed. Third, perhaps as a result of these new responsibilities, the relationship between IT operations and security personnel is growing a little bit more tense. The relationship hasn’t exactly become hostile, but survey respondents were definitely noticing a need for improvement. The following sections of the report delve into each of these trends in greater detail.
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