Two-thirds of companies are missing out on vital revenues from customers because they are not securing their systems using keys and certificates properly, according to research.
A report by the Ponemon Institute and Venafi has revealed that not only are these companies losing customers, they are also finding themselves having to deal with costly outages, failed audits and security breaches.
Out of the 2,300 global IT security professionals questioned in the survey, 54 per cent said they don't even know how many keys and certificates are deployed, where they are used or how they are governed in their organisation, revealing a huge concern for businesses - and one that should be acted upon as we become more reliant on security for internet-connected devices.
"When businesses fail to properly secure and manage their keys and certificates, there is a direct financial impact with lost customers and lost revenue," said Kevin Bocek, vice president of security strategy and threat intelligence at Venafi.
Additionally, the survey reported that an average of two certificate-related unplanned outages have been reported by the organisations included in the study over the last two years and every single business questioned said it failed one or more SSL/TLS audits and one or more SSH audits.
"Every business relies on cryptographic keys and digital certificates to operate, even if they don't realize it. That's why it's imperative that IT ops and IT security teams conduct regular audits to locate all the certificates and keys they are using, determine expiration dates and then put proper policies in place to avoid data breaches, unplanned outages, and failed audits."
Jeff Hudson, CEO of Venafi, added:. "With keys and certificates broadly deployed and so integral to the future of business growth, this data is pointing to a symptom of a larger security issue - if you can't manage your keys and certificates then you can't protect them and you're living in a world without trust.
