Over half of security professionals struggle to detect intruders

According to a survey of nearly 200 senior IT security professionals at the recent Black Hat USA 2013 Conference in Las Vegas, 52 per cent of respondents said that they were “not confident” that that their IT staff could detect the presence of an attacker who was attempting to breach their network or extract private data.

The survey from Lieberman Software Corporation found that 63 per cent of respondents believed that a state-sponsored hacker would attempt to breach their organisation in the next six months and in order to try and combat that, 90 per cent had made efforts to protect themselves.
This included 90 per cent giving user training to protect against advanced persistent threats (APTs), while the same number had also added new security appliances and 89 per cent had carried out endpoint testing to protect against APTs. Also, 81 per cent of respondents’ organisations carry out pen testing to protect against APTs.

However, more than a third of respondents (36 per cent) did not think that their organisations’ current products and processes could keep up with new and emerging threats.

Philip Lieberman, President and CEO of Lieberman Software, said “The fact that businesses acknowledge what a challenge APTs present to their networks and are willing to do something about it proves that this is no smokescreen. As our survey found, almost 90 per cent of the senior IT security professionals we spoke to at Black Hat had invested in penetration testing services or education of users, and it is good to see such a high number making preparations for the worst eventuality.

“What was also striking was that more than a third felt that their current IT infrastructure was insufficient in the face of a heavy-set attack, yet not all of the respondents were prepared to do something about it. I wonder if they feel that sitting tight and hoping for the best is efficient and sufficient protection.”