Philippine firms are the most aware in Southeast Asia about security on the Internet of Things and its impact on their businesses, according to a survey by Intel Security.
The survey was conducted in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, and showcases widespread analysis from key players in IT organizations, from CEOs to developers to system administrators. There was a total of 1,953 respondents.
Of the countries surveyed, the Philippines ranked highest in its IoT security awareness with 53% of IT leaders recognizing the need for enhancements to be made to their security controls to secure their IoT while Thailand ranked lowest and least aware as 39%.
Singapore, the country with the highest mobile penetration globally, stood at 42%, while Malaysia and Indonesia stood at 46% and 40% respectively.
When asked about their preferred solutions to improve their organizations’ security levels against the backdrop of an IoT implementation, IT leaders from most of the countries surveyed agreed on advanced security technologies as being the most important.
Other solutions preferred by all the countries include enforcing better employee security awareness, setting up IT steering committees and increasing security department staff.
While these various measures are highly paramount to any organization’s security architecture, Intel Security suggests the adoption of a holistic approach towards security that involves a combination of various technologies and user education.
While there are significant economic benefits to collecting and opening up data for sharing, there is also the danger of data being misused. In the light of massive data breaches and data thefts in recent years, substantial efforts are needed to secure IoT-related data across businesses.
While improved architecture is vital, the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations’ education programs in ensuring their employees adhere to security policies is equally significant to ensure maximum safety.
Of the countries surveyed, almost all the IT leaders believed that better detection and analysis tools would be most relevant to ensuring security.
IT leaders from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines believed more training around managing incidence response issues over multiple networks would also be useful, while those from Thailand and Indonesia believed more IT security staff would help.