Akamai Technologies has formally announced the launch of its State of Segmentation 2023 report, highlighting an increase in ransomware attacks and the adoption of Zero Trust and microsegmentation strategies.
This report reveals that organisations globally experienced an average of 86 ransomware attacks in the past 12 months, a significant increase from the average of 43 attacks two years ago. The focus is on the effectiveness of Zero Trust and microsegmentation strategies in combating these threats.
Based on feedback from 1,200 IT and security decision-makers worldwide, the report indicates a consensus on the effectiveness of microsegmentation in asset protection. However, deployment rates are lower than anticipated. In the Asia-Pacific-Japan (APJ) region, only 36% of organisations have implemented microsegmentation across more than two business-critical areas.
The primary challenge in APJ is a lack of skills and expertise, cited by 43% of respondents, the highest among all surveyed regions. Other significant hurdles include compliance requirements and increased performance bottlenecks.
The research also emphasises the benefits of comprehensive microsegmentation strategies. Organisations that have implemented microsegmentation across six mission-critical areas reported recovering from attacks in an average of four hours, compared to 15 hours for those with less extensive segmentation. This underscores the effectiveness of a Zero Trust strategy that utilises microsegmentation.
In APJ, nearly all respondents (99%) who have deployed some form of segmentation have also adopted a Zero Trust security framework. This suggests a strong correlation between segmentation practices and the broader adoption of Zero Trust principles.
“Cybercriminals in APJ are always shifting tactics and improving their tools to breach organizations. Whether it’s defending against ransomware, new zero-days, or sophisticated phishing attacks, it’s vital that organizations here reevaluate their risks to protect their critical assets. Adopting a Zero Trust architecture with the combination of Zero Trust Network Access and microsegmentation is the only effective strategy to mitigate ransomware threats. While many APJ organizations are ahead in implementing such architectures, they must also ensure that staff and partners are equipped with the necessary skills to reap the full benefits of this approach,” said Dean Houari, Director, Security Technology and Strategy, Asia-Pacific and Japan.
The report further reveals:
- IT security teams and decision-makers in APAC (62%) and the Americas (60%) consider network segmentation extremely important for their organisation’s security, more so than those in EMEA (53%)
- Organisations in APAC are likelier to have segmented more than two business-critical assets (36%) compared to those in EMEA (29%) and the Americas (26%)
- APAC and EMEA both report lack of skills/expertise (43% and 38%) as their main barrier to segmentation. In contrast, the Americas cite increased performance bottlenecks (41%) as their primary challenge
- In terms of Zero Trust deployment completion, 49% of respondents in the Americas report full completion, compared to 35% in APAC and 33% in EMEA
- A significant 93% of respondents acknowledge that microsegmentation is critical in combating ransomware attacks