Organisations are struggling to secure their networks as more adopt hybrid cloud environments.
This is according to a study by security policy firm Tufin, which surveyed IT and security professionals in the US about their network security operations.
More than half (57 per cent) of the 150 respondents said keeping their network secure was harder than it was two years ago.
Although the study was carried out in the US, Tufin said it would expect to find the same trends in the UK, citing a separate study by NaviSite that revealed 89 per cent of UK companies thought a hybrid cloud environment would be the most likely set up for their organisation to start using in 2015.
Reuven Harrison, CTO, Tufin said: "The data from our conversations with IT and security professionals paints a concerning picture of network security operations challenges, confusion and missteps.
"As innovations like hybrid cloud environments, business applications and security products have created benefits for organisations, they have also created a complex environment for security teams."
Supporting the cloud was a key driver in 38 per cent of organisations' network security strategies, but only a third have actually created formal security policies for new private or public cloud set-ups.
Additionally, 91 per cent of the respondents said they believed automation was either “critical” or “very important” to the success of their network security operations, yet 59 per cent said they have not implemented any kind of automation.
Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at ESG, added: “A majority of survey respondents indicated that their organisations are struggling to combat unprecedented security risk and keep up with the growing network security workload.
"The research also suggests that organisations want to automate network security operations and strengthen network security.”
Other factors preventing IT departments from properly addressing their network security were the rise in network-connected devices, increasing network traffic and new application deployments, Tufin found.
CTO Harrison added: “Given the picture will be similar in the UK, it’s critical that organisations create strong security policies and use automation in order to reduce the errors associated with today’s complicated IT environments, helping to reduce the likelihood of successful cyberattacks and business down time.”
