Faced with a growing attack surface and an ongoing cybersecurity skills shortage, enterprises in the Nordics are turning to managed security service providers to safeguard their digital transformation projects, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.
The 2023 ISG Provider Lens Cybersecurity – Solutions and Services report for the Nordics finds that the increase in cloud adoption and the growing prevalence of hybrid working models has led cybercriminals to migrate their threat attacks to cloud environments.
“The task of security experts has gotten much tougher,” said Roger Albrecht, partner and co-lead, ISG Cybersecurity. “They are faced with securing more devices and managing more vulnerabilities, particularly outside of the well-protected network perimeter.”
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According to the ISG report, AI and automation tools are becoming a critical component of the cybersecurity industry. However, the industry continues to face a talent shortage. This offers tremendous growth opportunities for managed security service providers and managed service providers, who are responding to the shortage by investing in automation to support their clients, ISG says.
Although 2022 showed a decrease in data breach incidents, there was an increase in the sophistication and severity of attacks, the ISG report says. According to the report, Nordic governments have attempted to answer these threats by enhancing their incident response efforts and beefing up their cybersecurity budgets. Meanwhile, enterprises in the Nordics are struggling to undertake a holistic approach to cyber threats. Instead of adopting a proactive, preventative strategy that incorporates resilience capabilities for withstanding disruption, they have been focusing on isolated risk scenarios and recovery plans, ISG says.
“Nordic enterprises consider cybersecurity a fairly high priority,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “Yet there remains a lack of clarity regarding ROI.”
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The ISG report says enterprises in the Nordics require better understanding and visibility of all network assets, the risks faced by them and the techniques for executing business operations amid simultaneous risks. Addressing these requirements offers an opportunity for service providers with consulting and managed services expertise to become strategic partners, ISG says.
The report also examines how growing apprehension regarding cyber threats has prompted Nordic enterprises to consider cyber insurance to safeguard themselves and to comply with stringent government regulations.
The 2023 ISG Provider Lens Cybersecurity – Solutions and Services report for the Nordics evaluates the capabilities of 89 providers across six quadrants: Identity and Access Management (IAM), Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Security Service Edge (SSE), Technical Security Services, Strategic Security Services and Managed Security Services – SoC.
The report names Accenture, Eviden (Atos), Capgemini, HCLTech, IBM, Orange Cyberdefense and TCS as Leaders in three quadrants each.Heimdal Security, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and Wipro were named as Leaders in two quadrants each, while Broadcom, Cato Networks, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Deloitte, EY, Forcepoint, Infosys, IN Groupe, Mnemonic, Netskope, Okta, Ping Identity, Sophos, Thales, Trend Micro, Ubisecure, Versa Networks and Zscaler were named as Leaders in one quadrant each.
In addition, Atea is named as a Rising Star — a company with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition — in two quadrants, while ForgeRock, HPE (Aruba), SailPoint, Telia Cygate, Trellix and Wipro were named as Rising Stars in one quadrant each.
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