SINGAPORE, May 28, 2024 – New research from LogRhythm, a company dedicated to aiding security teams in preventing breaches by transforming fragmented data and signals into reliable insights, has unveiled a significant disconnect between cybersecurity executives in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and their customers. Despite 85% of security executives rating their cybersecurity defense as good or excellent, nearly half of the companies have lost deals due to customers’ lack of confidence in their strategy over the past 18 months.
The findings from LogRhythm’s 2024 State of the Security Team: Navigating Constant Change Research Report, which surveyed 1,176 cybersecurity professionals and executives globally, including regions such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Australia & New Zealand, underscore the urgent need for better alignment between perceived and actual security effectiveness.
Adapting to the Dynamic Threat Landscape
Amid a rapidly changing threat landscape, 98% of APAC respondents reported having adjusted their company security strategies within the past year. The primary driver for these changes has been the increased utilization of AI for threat management and new security solutions, cited by 77% of respondents, with Indonesia leading this trend at 86%. Additional reasons include evolving regulations and compliance requirements (66%), emerging attack types (58%), and budget modifications (48%).
Communication Gap Between Security Teams and Executives
The study also highlighted a growing expectation for senior leaders to be accountable for security breaches, with 80% asserting that cybersecurity leaders and CEOs should ultimately bear this responsibility. This sentiment is particularly strong in Japan, where 96% of respondents hold this view. However, despite this accountability, there remains a communication gap between security teams and non-security executives. Notably, 59% of APAC respondents experienced difficulties in explaining the importance of specific security measures to non-technical executives, and only 61% believed that non-security executives understood the company’s regulatory obligations.
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Increasing Budgets but Lacking Impact Metrics
In response to evolving threats, 84% of APAC respondents noted an increase in their company’s cybersecurity budget, higher than the global average of 76%. Yet, many security teams struggle to report on key operational metrics that measure the impact of these investments. Most reports focus on breaches (75%), incidents (68%), and security risks (67%), while metrics like time to detect (57%), time to respond (63%), and time to recover (47%) are less frequently highlighted. Additionally, 84% of security teams rely on manual methods, such as static reports, meetings, and emails, to share security status information.
Expert Opinions
“The evolving role of cybersecurity leadership reflects a fundamental shift in how organizations view and manage cyber risk,” said Andrew Hollister, Chief Information Security Officer at LogRhythm. “Today’s threat environment demands a collaborative approach, with senior executives working hand-in-hand with security professionals to understand the risks, make well-informed, strategic decisions, and allocate the necessary resources to safeguard the organization and its clients.”
Yen Nee Si, Country Manager for Asia at LogRhythm, added, “Our latest research reflects the ambitions of APAC organizations to keep pace with the region’s advanced digitization efforts by ramping up their cybersecurity investments. However, APAC security teams continue to face challenges like communication gaps and the lack of metrics to measure the impact of cybersecurity investments, despite increasing budgets. To overcome these challenges, organizations can facilitate collaboration opportunities between security and non-security teams, and foster a shared understanding of each team’s requirements and responsibilities to streamline and enhance overall operational efficiency across different departments.”
Methodology
The Security Teams Thriving in the Face of Constant Change: A Global Survey of Security Professionals & Executives study was conducted by Dimensional Research, on behalf of LogRhythm in March 2024. The study surveyed 1,176 cybersecurity professionals and executives globally, across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific (APAC). In APAC, the survey data includes 334 responses from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Australia & New Zealand.
About LogRhythm
LogRhythm helps security teams stop breaches by turning disconnected data and signals into trustworthy insights. From connecting the dots across diverse log and threat intelligence sources to using sophisticated machine learning that spots suspicious anomalies in network traffic and user behavior, LogRhythm accurately pinpoints cyberthreats and empowers professionals to respond with speed and efficiency.
With cloud-native and self-hosted deployment flexibility, out-of-the-box integrations, and advisory services, LogRhythm makes it easy to realize value quickly and adapt to an ever-evolving threat landscape. Together, LogRhythm and our customers confidently monitor, detect, investigate, and respond to cyberattacks. Learn more at logrhythm.com.
