Collaboration between IT operations, security teams on the rise against cyber threats

The traditional barriers between IT operations and security teams are breaking down, found a study by Commvault, a cyber resilience and data protection solutions provider.

The study, conducted in partnership with The Futurum Group, surveyed over 200 C-Suite and senior-level IT executives worldwide, revealing a significant shift towards increased collaboration to combat the growing threat of sophisticated cyber attacks. 

According to the report, nearly 99% of respondents noted a more connected relationship between IT operations and security in the past 12 months. The study focused on key aspects of this collaboration, with 64% of those describing their relationship as “connected” expressing shared goals for maintaining company security. Additionally, 70% reported having joint processes and procedures in place for daily operations. 

However, the report also highlighted areas for improvement. Only 48% of respondents stated the existence of joint processes and procedures to mitigate or recover from a security incident.  

“Synergies between IT operations, security teams and the C-suite has never been more crucial as cyber criminals are deploying more sophisticated attacks powered by AI,” said Javier Dominguez, Chief Information Security Officer, Commvault. “But, with 19 cyber attacks every second, breaches are inevitable. It’s critical that IT operations and security teams jointly think about recovery as part of an end-to-end security practice tied to the NIST framework.” 

The report also anticipates a significant role for artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024, with 68% of respondents believing that AI will enhance security efforts by identifying and responding to threats more rapidly and accurately. Respondents identified various ways AI could improve security, including automating employee training and security awareness (67%), increasing operational efficiency associated with data protection (66%), and augmenting user authentication and access control (57%). 

The study shed light on the continuous challenge of fragmented data protection solutions, affecting over 90% of respondents and directly impacting their organisation’s cyber resiliency. More than half (54%) indicated that fragmentation hinders their efforts in this regard.  

“Utilising a host of fragmented data protection products can drive up costs, create management nightmares, give bad actors more avenues to exploit, and slow down recovery,” said Krista Macomber, Research Director, The Futurum Group. “This research serves as a good reminder that organisations should consider a modern platform that can reduce fragmentation, protect a vast array of workloads across any location, predict threats faster, and speed up response and recovery times.”