Southeast Asian businesses understand the evolving security landscape but tend to have low awareness of the threats to the IoT.
Intel Security has revealed findings of a survey which examines Southeast Asian IT leaders’ outlook towards the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impact on the security strategy of the businesses.
The survey was conducted in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, and showcases widespread analysis from key players in IT organizations, from CEOs to developers to system administrators.
Of the countries surveyed, Thailand ranked lowest in its IoT security awareness with only 39% of IT leaders recognising the need for enhancements to be made to their security controls to secure their IoT. The Philippines ranked highest as the most aware at 53%. Singapore, the country with the highest mobile penetration globally, stood at 42%, while Malaysia and Indonesia stood at 46% and 40% respectively.
The survey findings may come across as surprising at a time when Southeast Asia is being considered the biggest penetration market for IoT devices globally. While the IoT market size in Asia Pacific is expected to grow to $862 billion in 2020 according to IDC, Intel Security predicts that growing vulnerabilities arising from new technologies such as DDoS attacks and spammed devices will open up new possibilities to hackers and cybercriminals.
When asked about their preferred solutions to improve their organizations’ security levels against the backdrop of an IOT implementation, IT leaders from almost all countries agreed on advanced security technologies as being the most important. Other solutions preferred by all the countries include enforcing better employee security awareness, setting up IT steering committees and increasing security department staff.