Report: The state of network security in 2021

The bad news is twofold: Businesses are getting breached, and ransomware makes up a sizeable portion of the attacks. The good news is that businesses are aware of and are investing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions to defeat attacks and protect their networks while supporting a hybrid work model.

Barracuda examines these and other key findings in the new report, The state of network security in 2021. To capture perspectives on cloud adoption, working from home, security concerns, and a variety of issues and challenges related to cybersecurity risks, Barracuda commissioned independent market research firm Vanson Bourne to survey IT decision makers. The results of that research were published today in the new report.

The survey includes responses from 750 IT decision makers responsible for their organization’s networking, public cloud, and security. They came from organizations in companies with 500 or more employees in the U.S., EMEA, and APAC.

Fresh perspectives on network security

Overall, the research shows that network breaches, ransomware attacks, and remote-work challenges underscore the need for cloud-native Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) deployments. Highlights from the report include:

Organizations are experiencing breaches, and ransomware makes up a significant portion of the attacks.

• 81% of respondents said their organization has been the victim of a security breach once in the last year.


• Companies with staff working predominantly from home had a significantly higher network security breach rate (85%), compared to companies with staff working predominantly in the office (65%).


• A full 74% of those surveyed said their organization has been the victim of at least one ransomware attack in the last year.

Despite fast connectivity, employees working from home are still experiencing operational and quality-of-service challenges.

• On average, only 14% of employees at the businesses surveyed currently work in the office all the time.


• A full 94% of respondents with company-issued devices share their home internet connection with other members of their household, so the risk of breach remains.

SASE technologies are looked at as solutions to defeat security breaches and overcome work-from-home challenges.

• 73% of companies with all apps in the public cloud have already deployed SD-WAN, twice as many as companies with only a few apps in the public cloud (37%).


• 68% of companies with all apps in the public cloud have deployed Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), while just 38% of companies with only a few apps in the public cloud have deployed it.


• On average, organizations have 31 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps deployed.


• On average, respondents said 64% of their traffic is directed to public cloud providers.

Get your copy of The state of network security in 2021 today and see all the latest insightful details about network breaches, remote-work challenges, SASE deployments, and more.

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