INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security

This data security ‘ gap ’ is a result of organisations grappling with increasingly complex IT and data infrastructures internally , leading to huge siloes of sensitive data . Businesses must manage this alongside the external risk of rising cyberattacks in Europe : 58 % of UK organisations experienced an increase in cyberattacks in the last 12 months , followed by 49 % in DACH and 47 % in the Nordics .

According to insights from 108 European organisations , data security is rising rapidly to the top of the CEO ’ s agenda : 45 % will prioritise spend on data security , risk and compliance this year to enable trustworthy data collaboration and sharing , followed by workplace solutions ( 36 %), application development and deployment platforms ( 35 %), infrastructure and operations ( 33 %) and automation technologies ( 31 %).

Organisations must also address a new blind spot caused by shadow data – a side effect of data sprawl in the cloud – with only 42 % of

European businesses selecting ‘ confident ’ or ‘ highly confident ’ in their ability to discover and classify sensitive data , both known and unknown , in the public cloud .

Meanwhile , evolving privacy regulations are creating tension between digital innovation and data sovereignty : only 15 % of organisations in Europe are highly confident in their ability to discover and classify sensitive data in order to protect it . Additionally , when managing compliance with GDPR , the biggest challenges facing organisations stem from identifying and mapping personal data ( 41 %), creating data protection by design ( 40 %), data retention and deletion ( 38 %) and data security ( 35 %).

In the UK , organisations cited working from home and hybrid work as the top operational security priority for 2023 , followed by cyberresilience of systems and data privacy and regulatory compliance . Over half ( 58 %) described their organisation as ‘ confident ’ or ‘ highly confident ’ in its ability to discover and classify sensitive data , both known and unknown , in the public cloud – a significant increase on the European average ( 42 %). A total of 56 % of UK organisations will expand or upgrade technology related to data access and governance in the next 12 months .

“ The reality is that organisations are typically operating with data spread across multiple platforms and locations , all while navigating a rapidly evolving privacy and regulatory landscape ,” said Colin Mitchell , General Manager , Immuta . “ Data is a critical asset for organisations , enabling collaboration , innovation and informing decisions . However , as data usage increases , businesses need to manage unauthorised access , breaches and misuse . This creates a complex dynamic between data utility – the usefulness and accessibility of data – and the security and compliance measures in place to protect data from risks .”

Looking ahead , organisations are exploring ways to build trust in data by streamlining their security operations and rationalising their existing security tool environment : 49 % of respondents all working within security plan to expand or upgrade implementation of data access controls in the next 12 months . Nearly a third of European organisations ( 32 %) also intend to increase spend on data discovery and classification to overcome challenges of complexity . p

70 INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE www . intelligentcio . com