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IT Leaders Rely on Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to Mitigate Cyber Threats

Heiko Fleschen

07.05.2023

It's no secret that cyberattacks are on the rise for companies of every size and in every market. Attack surfaces are getting wider as more devices join networks every day. As a result, we'll continue to see an increased sophistication of ransomware, more advanced persistent threats and continued mobile device exploitation.

To assess the current state of cybersecurity, we surveyed leaders from more than 200 companies (each with 50 employees or more) across all sectors of the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) to learn more about their security initiatives, challenges and future plans.

How common are cyberattacks?

When it comes to cyberattacks, the results were surprising: More than 50% of the company leaders we surveyed experienced at least one cyberattack in the last year. And nearly half of that group say they experienced it more than once. A cyberattack could include anything from ransomware to phishing.

To illustrate the impact of these attacks, we also asked those leaders to share what happened within their organizations as a result of the security incident. The top five responses included:

Disruption of business operations (32%)
Financial loss (26%)
Loss of sensitive data (26%)
Brand/reputation damage (23%)
Loss of regular customers (22%)

One well-known example is the cyberattack experienced by a large rental car chain in Germany. The incident halted usual business operations for several days. All workflows and processes were disrupted, which led to significant financial loss. The only way to rent a car was to visit a location in person; apps, phones and websites were down. In addition, the attackers also gained access to customer and employee data.

Given these threats, how are companies adjusting their budgets in response? The majority of respondents (86%) are putting their money where it matters by increasing funding for cybersecurity initiatives by anywhere from 1% to 100% more.

How prepared are companies for cyberattacks?

To gauge how well protected companies in this region are, we asked IT leaders about their zero trust security models and zero trust network access (ZTNA) solutions.

Only 16% have ZTNA solutions in place already, but another 61% plan to make the investment in the next few years: 26% will roll out ZTNA in the next year, 20% will make the change in the next two years and 15% are looking at two years down the road.

The zero trust security model doesn’t trust anyone or any device until it is verified. Only after verifying that the user is who they say they are—or the device is what it says it is—is access granted.

As a result, zero trust is focused on resources instead of perimeter security, which takes place at the interface of a private or corporate network and a public network, such as the internet. It’s a state-of-the-art approach to securing IT networks that also benefits OT networks.

Continuous verification is performed via real-time information that’s fed from multiple sources to determine access and other system responses. This limits access paths and/or scope of credentials for attackers, which gives systems and people more time to recognize, respond to and stop an attack before it’s too late.

Twenty-three percent (23%) of companies don’t plan to invest in ZTNA in the near future due to these obstacles:

Implementation complexity (36%)
Lack of internal know-how (33%)
Too high costs (26%)

But there’s good news for the companies that face these deployment challenges: Working with a trusted advisor and partner can help resolve many of these concerns. For example, macmon’s ZTNA solution is simple and fast to implement, and our team is here to help at every step of the way.

High levels of internal know-how aren’t necessary with our systems, either. We can show you what you need to know about your ZTNA solutions, and your IT team can manage them confidently and effectively.

Why do companies invest in ZTNA?

Finally, we asked the IT leaders investing in ZTNA why they make it a priority—or why they plan to do so in the near future.

They identified a long list of expected benefits as a result of ZTNA, which include:

A reduction in security incidents (60%)
Lower risks and increased network security (57%)
Higher-access security for cloud applications (57%)
Easier onboarding and support for new ways of working (56%)
Simpler management and agility (55%)
Better support for IT strategies (55%)
Improved network performance (54%)
Simplified data management (54%)
Decreased costs and complexity (51%)
Reduced downtime (51%)

As you assess your own cybersecurity posture and investigate ZTNA investments for your organization, use the data points we provided in this blog as a benchmark to see how you’re doing, as well as what other businesses are focused on.

Learn more about macmon secure’s SDP Suite, a zero trust network access solution.