New Summary:
Executive leadership still considers security a high priority along with other indicators such as clarification of roles, establishing clear metrics, and cyber risk assessments.
Report shows increased challenges when managing and securing multi-vendor environments, cloud infrastructure, mobile devices, and unpatched vulnerabilities.
86 percent of security professionals say utilizing cloud security has increased visibility into their networks.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif-February 24, 2020 - RSA Conference 2020- Today, Cisco published its sixth annual CISO Benchmark Report surveying the security posture of 2,800 security professionals from 13 countries around the globe. The report provides 20 cybersecurity considerations for 2020 - gleaned from data analysis of survey results and a panel of Advisory CISOs.
Complexity Continues to be Cybersecurity's Worst Enemy
Digital transformation continues to present itself as an opportunity for IT and security leaders to innovate and gain competitive advantage. But it also carries a tsunami of infrastructure change, which often creates new challenges for security professionals with defeating unknown sophisticated threats looming as a top concern.
In today's security landscape, the average company uses more than 20 security technologies. While vendor consolidation is steadily increasing with 86 percent of organizations using between 1 and 20 vendors, more than 20 percent feel that managing a multi-vendor environment is very challenging, which has increased by 8 percent since 2017. Other notable findings:
Forty-two percent of respondents are suffering from cybersecurity fatigue, defined as virtually giving up on proactively defending against malicious actors.
Over 96 percent of fatigue sufferers saying that managing a multi-vendor environment is challenging, complexity being the main causes of burnout.
To combat complexity, security professionals are increasing investments in automation to simplify and speed up response times in their security ecosystems; using cloud security to improve visibility into their networks; and sustaining collaboration between networking, endpoint and security teams.
As organizations increasingly embrace digital transformation, CISOs are placing higher priority in adopting new security technologies to reduce exposure against malicious actors and threats. Often, many of these solutions don't integrate, creating substantial complexity in managing their security environment, said Steve Martino, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Cisco. To address this issue, security professionals will continue steady movement towards vendor consolidation, while increasing reliance on cloud security and automation to strengthen their security posture and reduce the risk of breaches.
The following findings highlight additional CISO challenges and opportunities for improvement:
Workload protection for all user and device connections across the network was found extremely challenging-Forty-one percent of the surveyed organizations found data centers were extremely difficult to defend, and 39 percent said they struggled to secure applications. The most troublesome place to defend data was the public cloud, with 52 percent finding it very or extremely challenging to secure, and 50 percent claiming private cloud infrastructure was a top security challenge.
Security professionals struggle to secure the growing mobile workforce and ubiquitous personal devices - More than half (52 percent) of respondents stated mobile devices are now very or extremely challenging to defend. Adopting zero-trust technologies can help secure managed and unmanaged devices without slowing down employees.
Adoption of zero-trust technologies to secure access of the network, applications, users, devices and workloads needs to increase-Only 27 percent of organizations are currently using multi-factor authentication (MFA), a valuable zero-trust technology to secure the workforce. Survey respondents from the following countries showed the highest MFA adoption rates in this order: USA, China, Italy, India, Germany, and UK. While micro-segmentation, a zero-trust approach to secure access of workloads, had the least adoption at only 17 percent of respondents.
Breaches due to an unpatched vulnerability caused higher levels of data loss- A key concern for 2020 is that 46 percent of organizations, up from 30 percent in last year's report, had an incident caused by an unpatched vulnerability. Sixty-eight percent of organizations breached from an unpatched vulnerability suffered losses of 10,000 data records or more last year. In contrast, for those who said they suffered a breach from other causes, only 41percent lost 10,000 or more records in the same timeframe.
Security professionals have made positive developments to improve their security posture:
Collaboration between network and security teams remains high- Ninety-one percent of respondents reported they're very or extremely collaborative.
Security practitioners are realizing the benefits of automation for solving their skills shortage problem as they adopt solutions with greater machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities-Seventy-seven percent of our survey respondents are planning to increase automation to simplify and speed up response times in their security ecosystems.
Cloud security adoption is increasing, improving effectiveness and efficiency- Eighty-six percent of respondents say utilizing cloud security increased visibility into their networks.
Recommendations for CISOs:
Employ a layered defense, which should include MFA, network segmentation, and endpoint protection.
Gain the highest levels of visibility to bolster data governance, lower risk, and increase compliance.
Focus on cyber hygiene: shore up defenses, update and patch
North America Stories
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
12/11/2026
Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...
12/11/2026
Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...
12/11/2026
Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...
12/11/2026
Euro TV Production GmbH of Austria has upgraded its outside broadcast vehicle with Lawo technology. The mc 36 Classic console in service since 2019 was replaced...
New Summary: 
