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McAfee Inc. has published the findings from new research, which reveals that a desire for easier and holistic management of IT security is being undermined by complex security purchasing strategies. Despite IT managers demanding a single view of IT security, ‘too many security suppliers, solutions and management consoles are weighing down businesses’.
The study of 600 businesses across six European countries (UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy) found that while over three quarters (77 percent) of those questioned would like to have a single view of the security of their IT infrastructure, nearly a third (29 percent) currently use four or more management consoles and a quarter (24 percent) of enterprises questioned have five or more different security suppliers.
The research was conducted by Ipsos MORI Research and commissioned by McAfee to understand the increasingly complex security arrangements of many European businesses. The need to apply updates to software solutions and regularly renew licenses means that managing multiple solutions from multiple vendors can be a major headache for IT managers.
The research reveals that in addition to multiple vendors, many businesses are deploying a large number of security solutions across their organisation. Nearly a third (30 percent) have five or more security solutions deployed while one in five (22 percent) enterprises questioned have seven or more different solutions.
Across Europe, the story is varied with Dutch companies using the most security suppliers. A third of Dutch businesses questioned have five or more suppliers while nearly one in five (19 percent) enterprises questioned have more than 10 security vendors. In France on the other hand, one in three businesses use only one supplier.
British companies use the most security solutions with 44 percent deploying five or more and nearly a third of enterprises questioned using seven or more. A third of Italian enterprises also use seven or more solutions while in Spain, only one in five of those questioned admitted to using five or more.
Other key findings from the research include:
* Medium-sized companies (250 – 499 employees) are increasingly using multiple vendors with 42 percent of those questioned having three or more security suppliers.
* Over a quarter (26 percent) of medium-sized companies have deployed five or more security solutions across their IT infrastructure
* Only 23 percent of those questioned are completely satisfied with the level of security across their systems and network
* One of the main difficulties for businesses with multiple solutions from multiple vendors is in managing the deployment of patches. Across Europe, over half (51 percent) of respondents said that they apply patches once a day or more. Italian businesses are the biggest patchers with 67 percent admitting to deploying patches at least once a day followed by 61 percent of German businesses questioned.
www.mcafee.com
•Date: 5th October 2006• Region: UK/W.Europe •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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