"Businesses Are Adding More Endpoints, But Can’t Manage Them All"

Security researchers at Ponemon Institute conducted a survey and discovered that most enterprises struggle to maintain visibility and control of their endpoint devices, leading to increased security breaches and impaired ability to ward off outside attacks.  The researchers found that the average enterprise now manages approximately 135,000 endpoint devices.  The researchers noted that despite $4,252,500 of the annual budget spent on endpoint protection, an average of 48% of devices, or 64,800 per enterprise, are at risk because they are no longer detected by the organization’s IT department or the endpoints’ operating systems have become outdated.  The researchers also found that 63% of respondents find that the lack of visibility into their endpoints is the most significant barrier to achieving a strong security posture.  More than half (62%) of respondents say new OS and application versions are the most difficult to maintain across all endpoints, followed by patches and security updates at 59% and network settings and connectivity issues at 50%.  Many respondents (66%) say their organizations don’t have ample resources to minimize endpoint risk.  Consequently, respondents indicate they could only stop 52% of attacks with their current technologies and expertise.  The researchers stated that as cyberattacks increase in frequency and magnitude, organizations are under increasing pressure to implement effective endpoint management solutions.  More than half (54%) of respondents had an average of 5 attacks on their organizations in the last year, at an average annual cost of $1.8 million. 

Help Net Security reports: "Businesses Are Adding More Endpoints, But Can’t Manage Them All"