C-Suite Perspectives: Accelerated Cloud Migration but Lagging Security

Annually, Radware publishes the findings and analysis of a survey of senior executives from AMER, EMEA and APAC to gain a better understanding of the perceptions of current cybersecurity challenges and opportunities for C-suite executives. The 2020 C-Suite Perspectives Report on IT Security reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic was a major accelerant for organizations to quickly move forward with the migration of business infrastructure and applications to the cloud.

The combination of a remote workforce and on-demand consumption of goods and services forced organizations to adopt an infrastructure that supports the digital experience. Simply put, the urgency of such an unanticipated and unprecedented situation removed many obstacles that had previously stood in the way of digital transformation plans — but not without complications.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 65% of organizations said that they had aggressive growth plans. When the pandemic hit, progress toward those goals contracted, as workforce reductions, reduced operating capital and lower revenue impacted respondents’ companies. However, agile businesses quickly adopted operational efficiencies, embraced a more productive remote workforce and shifted their product offerings in favor of a contactless economy.

Even though the pandemic forced quick decision-making, most respondents planned to make these changes permanent and position their organizations well for future challenges. In fact, more than half of the respondents expected to return to growth by the 2021–2022 time frame. However, such rapid digital transformation has created IT security gaps due to a lack of understanding of the threat landscape and the perceived security that public cloud vendors provide.

In the mad dash to the cloud, organizations are losing control and visibility of cybersecurity.

Radware surveyed more than 260 senior executives worldwide to discover how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their digital transformation plans. Results revealed that the C-suite drove quick action to address immediate needs and position their organizations well for the future by hastening timelines for cloud migration. But now it is time to play catch-up with security to close the gaps inherent in cloud networks.