Survey: 90 Percent of IT Decision Makers Investing to Secure Computing Endpoints

New survey, IBM X-Force research and technology partners outline growing focus on endpoint security -- from PCs and laptops to smartphones and other instrumented devices

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IBM

Mar 01, 2011, 08:38 ET

LAS VEGAS, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today released results from a survey of nearly 300 information technology (IT) decision makers on their companies' endpoint security initiatives. The study revealed that 90 percent of business leaders are investing in resources to better manage the security of their endpoints, including servers, PCs and laptops. Over half of those surveyed are also extending security to smartphones and other instrumented devices, with plans to increase spending in this area.

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Further highlighting this growing trend, IBM today also announced:

A sneak peek of its IBM X-Force 2010 Trend Report on mobile security threats; and
A collaboration with Trend Micro to deliver comprehensive endpoint security capabilities to customers.

It's estimated that by 2015 there will be approximately one trillion connected devices, whether traditional PCs or laptops, mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, point-of-sale (POS) systems such as ATMs and retail kiosks, or sensors in smart meters, buildings and other off-premise devices. Each of these devices will be generating, transmitting, consuming or analyzing a portion of the 275 exabytes of data Gartner predicts will be reached per day by 2020, making it critical that they remain available, secure and configured in accordance with company and regulatory policies and requirements.

Survey Underscores Growing Focus on Endpoint Security

As the survey results indicate, organizations today are facing an evolving landscape, with new computing endpoints being added to their network every day. Not only must they manage the security of PCs and laptops, but they must also keep up with demands to secure the influx of smartphones and other instrumented devices interacting with their corporate infrastructure.

Key findings include:

Although 73 percent of business leaders surveyed currently allow nontraditional endpoints, such as mobile devices or tablets, to connect to their corporate networks; 36 percent feel that these devices are not adequately protected and would like to see their companies invest more in managing the security of smartphones, POS systems and other smart devices.

Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed indicated that their company is planning to increase their investment in security to manage and protect nontraditional endpoints.

80 percent of respondents expect their organization to add new endpoints to their network in 2011.

While the vast majority (72 percent) of respondents say that PCs and laptops are the endpoints which pose the greatest danger to their firm's IT security; smartphones and tablets are viewed as a growing threat.

33 percent of all respondents acknowledged that the inability to have visibility into all of their endpoints is their greatest security concern.

The survey was conducted by Zogby International, on behalf of IBM, of 289 IT professionals in decision-making positions.

"The endpoint of 2011 is no longer just a PC or laptop, but the entire range of interconnected and instrumented devices and sensors that comprise the smarter planet," said Steve Robinson, general manager, IBM Security Solutions. "This trend continues to validate IBM's strategy to invest more in endpoint management, such as the recent release of Tivoli Endpoint Manager. It's our view that a managed endpoint is a secure one."

IBM X-Force 2010 Trend & Risk Report Highlights Growing Focus on Mobile Security

A preview of the IBM X-Force 2010 Trend & Risk Report indicates that while mobile computing offers the enterprise significant benefits, security still remains a primary hurdle for organizations managing the influx of these devices. Key trends highlighted in this new section of the report include:

While vulnerabilities and attacks exist, exploitation is not prevalent yet.

Instead, most IT professionals view the data that can be stored on them and how that can be misused or lost as the main security threat associated with these devices.

Organizations are facing increased security concerns as employee's use of personally-owned devices in the enterprise increases.

Enterprises must ensure control of their data regardless of where it is, including employee-owned or business-issued smartphones.

According to the X-Force Report, mobile computing best practices and security in general still remains relatively immature. The report goes on to highlight best practices organizations can adopt to better manage and deliver security updates to mobile devices, including enhanced password management and data encryption capabilities. The IBM X-Force 2010 Trend & Risk Report will be released in its entirety in March.

IBM and Trend Micro Provide Comprehensive Endpoint Security Capabilities for Customers

In an effort to help customers gain greater visibility into their endpoints – a key pain point outlined in the survey results announced today – IBM and Business Partner, Trend Micro, a global cloud security leader specializing in Internet content security and threat management, are helping customers better manage the security of their endpoints through a single, scalable management infrastructure. The offering integrates Trend Micro's anti-malware solution into IBM's recently announced Tivoli Endpoint Management platform, delivering the industry's only fully integrated endpoint management and security solution. Designed to support highly distributed, remote and intermittently connected computing devices, the solution can support up to 100,000 endpoints with a single management server.

"Enterprises should embrace the consumerization of devices used to access corporate resources," said Wael Mohamed, executive vice president, corporate strategy at Trend Micro. "Trend Micro's cloud-based endpoint security combined with IBM endpoint systems management solution will enable our customers to achieve the 'always on, always protected' state demanded by this increasingly social, collaborative and mobile business environment."

Today's news builds on IBM's recent announcement of new research projects, software and services partnerships to help organizations better manage the security of the growing number of mobile and instrumented devices beyond their own four walls; as well as the launch of the new IBM Security Network Intrusion Prevention System GX7800, the fastest and most comprehensive network security appliance on the market.

IBM Security Solutions

IBM Security Solutions include an extensive portfolio of hardware, software solutions, professional and managed services offerings covering the spectrum of IT and business security risks. This includes: people and identity, data and information, application and process, network, server and endpoint and physical infrastructure. IBM Security Solutions empower clients to innovate and operate their businesses on highly secure infrastructure platforms.

Following the acquisitions of Watchfire, Ounce Labs, Telelogic, and BigFix, IBM continues to grow its portfolio of capabilities designed to strengthen the security of smarter devices. With more than 40-years of security development and innovation, IBM is the only company with the breadth and depth of research, products, services, consulting and global business partners to deliver end-to-end security. IBM has nine worldwide research labs innovating security technology and nine security operations centers around the world to help global clients maintain the appropriate security posture.

For more information on IBM Security Solutions, visit: http://www.ibm.com/security and http://www.ibm.com/press/security.

To learn how smarter infrastructure is bridging the physical and digital worlds, check us out at http://spatiallyspeaking.tumblr.com and http://www.ibm.com/press/pulse.