Over 50% Indian IT managers don't know how their bandwidth is consumed: Sophos

British security software company Sophos has said that more than half of Indian IT managers will not be able to say where their network traffic is coming from, while 61% do not seem to determine how their bandwidth is consumed, IANS reported.

The report said that most IT managers also have legal liabilities due to the nature of unidentified traffic on their network. It added that over 89% of these managers have confided that stopping malware in present-day conditions is becoming difficult with each passing day.

“While 94% agree that stopping ransomware should be a top priority in organisations, lack of effective application visibility is a serious security concern for 90% of Indian businesses,” the news agency quoted the report, which has surveyed 2,700-plus IT managers across 10 nations, including India, the US, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Japan and South Africa. 

“Controlling network traffic is an essential role of every firewall, yet 61% IT managers cannot tell you how their bandwidth is being consumed,” Sunil Sharma, managing director for sales at Sophos India & Saarc, was quoted as saying. 

“If you cannot see everything on your network, you cannot ever be confident that your organisation is protected from threats. IT professionals have been ‘flying blind’ for too long and cybercriminals take advantage of this.” 

According to the report, nearly 79% of IT managers said that they faced a lot of security risks from unnecessary apps. “While 72% want to see applications by risk levels through their organisation’s firewall, 60% concerned on productivity loss due to unwanted apps and 52% had legal liability or compliance concerns due to potentially illegal content,” it added. 

The survey also showed that more than 61% of the managers wanted more efficient network firewall with improved threat visibility and advanced protection features. “Ineffective firewalls are costing you time and money. On an average, organisations are spending seven working days to remediate infected machines,” Sharma told news agency. 

“Companies are looking for the kind of next-generation, integrated network and endpoint protection that can stop advanced threats and prevent an isolated incident from turning into a widespread outbreak,” he added.