2021 security priorities infographic

1. Security priorities:
a look ahead
How are organizations prepping
to prevent cyberattacks?
Upcoming budget plans to combat risks
A snapshot of how IT security leaders are prioritizing
projects and planning investments in the next 12 months
Current security incidents & vulnerabilities
For more insight, download the executive summary.
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Security leaders executing these projects
Top causes of security incidents
1. Employees falling victim to phishing attacks
and other non-malicious user errors
2. Unpatched software vulnerabilities
3. Security vulnerabilities at third-party
organizations or individuals
4. Misconfiguration of services or systems
on or off premises
5. Unexpected business risks which exposed
a vulnerability (pandemic-related,
workforce changes, etc.)
The average longest
amount of time passed
before a security event
was detected is
5 weeks
This year’s top
security priorities
1. Be appropriately prepared to
respond to a security incident
2. Improve the protection of
confidential and sensitive data
3. Improve security awareness
among end users though training
4. Upgrade IT and data security
to boost corporate resiliency
5. Reduce complexity in IT
security infrastructure
Best practices 49%
Compliance/regulations
or mandates 49%
Evolving risks posed by
changing workforce or
business dynamics 41%
Addressing risks that result
from digital transformation 38%
Responding to a security
incident/breach 35%
Top factors determining
security spending
of companies have a CISO,
CSO, or top security executive
84% Enterprise 50% SMB
67%
21% of security roles report
into the board of directors
Up from 12% in 2020
Physical security has been
added to the list of responsibilities
among IT security leaders
65%
Added in
the past
3 years
46% have these tools in use
Up from 24% in 2019
of organizations are
aware of what caused
their security incidents
in the past year
91%
94% Enterprise 89% SMB
38% of security leaders with OT
environments rate their vulnerability
concerns as grave or significant
21% Enterprise 47% SMB
90%
of organizations say they have
added at least one security
tool in the past 12 months
Security tools on the
radar for organizations
Zero trust technologies 38%
SOAR (Security Orchestration,
Automation and Response) 37%
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) 35%
Deception technology 35%
XDR (Extended Detection and Response) 34%
Shift in security
Average annual security budget
$123M Enterprise $11M SMB
44%
Increase
54%
Remain
the same
2%
Decrease
Up from
87%
in 2020
Up from
61%
in 2020
24%
No, and do
not expect
it to
11%
Expect to
add in the
next 12 months
Source: Foundry Security Priorities Study, 2021