Study warns of risks in IT world

MANILA, Philippines -  Symantec has released its IT Security and Storage outlook for 2012, containing forecasts on key themes such as rising risks of advanced persistent threats (APTs), increase in data loss through smart mobile devices, cloud computing driving changes in organizations, and the critical need to strengthen disaster recovery planning as natural disasters increase.

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help organizations protect their business critical information.

The past 12 months in 2011 have seen the emergence of the successor to the Stuxnet, a computer worm that targets industrial control systems that are used to monitor and control large scale industrial facilities. The current year has also seen a surge in mobile threats, a rise in compromised legitimate digital certificates, and a growing demand for cloud services.

“Global trends in 2012 will certainly impact local businesses in the Philippines as we are living and working in a borderless world,” said Luichi Robles, senior country manager for Symantec Philippines. “Looking back at the major cybersecurity and storage trends in 2011 helps us gain perspective and make improvements moving forward. The key themes from 2011 are expected to continue to grow in 2012.”

“Organizations in the Philippines have made good progress in the year 2011 in protecting their business critical information and managing the increasing storage growth. Continuing in such progress and intensifying security initiatives in strategic areas of business will help organizations to be prepared for the increasing risks in the coming year.”

According to Robles, one of the key cybersecurity trends that organizations should note in moving into 2012 is the continual increase of advanced persistent threats (APTs). “The most significant new element in the cybersecurity threat landscape is the emergence of advanced persistent threats, a type of targeted attack which uses a wide variety of techniques. 2011 saw the foundation for the next of such attack being laid into the coming years.”

He explained that APTs target industrial control-related organizations and could attack organizations or partner organizations that do business with their primary targets.

Commenting on another significant trend that businesses in the Philippines need to pay attention to, Robles said the high increase in the number of smart mobile devices will also increase the risks surrounding them, particularly mobile malware and data loss.

“The key concern of businesses in the Philippines on the increasing adoption of smart mobile devices and tablets is that employees are accessing sensitive corporate information with these devices without being detected. Employee with malicious intent could easily steal highly confidential intellectual property.”

According to market research firm, Gartner, sales of smartphones globally will exceed 461 million by the end of the year, surpassing PC shipments in the process. In fact, combined sales of smartphones and tablets will be 44 percent greater than the PC market by the end of this year.

Cloud computing is a key trend in 2012 which is expected to drive changes in organizations. According to 2011 State of Cloud Survey, organizations in Philippines are excited about cloud, with 76 to 87 percent at least discussing all forms of cloud. However, there are significant gaps between what organizations in the Philippines were expecting to achieve and what they actually achieved in cloud deployment. For example, 82 percent expected cloud to improve their IT agility, yet only 51 percent found that it actually did. These gaps are indicative of the immaturity of the market.

In addition, moving to the cloud requires organizations to take a new approach to IT. “As organizations in the Philippines look into cloud technologies, they will need to consider how they use IT and existing resources – servers, storage and people. Cloud computing is more about the people and processes. Organizations must change how they purchase IT, how they consume IT, and how they organized IT to provide cloud services,” added Robles.

   In 2012, disaster recovery plan in organizations is expected to be tested even more by natural disasters. “We expect to continue seeing the unpredictable environmental changes test organizations’ disaster recovery plans in 2012. Organizations will need to be disaster proof and start looking at business services more holistically and automate recovery process to recover faster and reduce their reliance on personnel. The question is have they learned their lesson from this year or have to experience it for themselves in 2012.”