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5G leads business investment, though general wireless network security concerns remain high

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Businesses expect wireless technology investment to boost their productivity by 32% on average in the three years after implementation, but latent concerns remain around security and interoperability.

36% of respondents to a Panasonic Connect Europe survey say that 5G is the most important wireless technology investment for their business, with private campus networks more popular than public networks.

One in five (22%) view WiFi 6 as the most important type of wireless technology. A substantial upgrade over its predecessor, it offers faster connections and improved resilience for networks with a high connected device load. Interest in Bluetooth and Long-Range Wide Area Networks (LoRaWAN) were similarly high (21% respectively), as organisations seek the right technology for specialist applications in their own sectors, such as supply chain logistics and manufacturing.

Overall, there is rapid progress being made with investment in wireless technology, with 41% of decision makers having already made the decision to invest in wireless projects, or are in the planning process. An additional 38% of respondents are already at the implementation stage.

However, there are challenges to overcome, with 24% of those surveyed admitting to concerns around IT security, while 22% are worried about interoperability and connectivity issues with their existing IT infrastructure. One in five are troubled about the manageability of the wireless network technology and a similar percentage report a lack of confidence in IT resources, knowledge, and skills.

“This research highlights that this is a crucial period in wireless technology investment and decision making. The advent of 5G, the evolution of WiFi, and the innovation around Bluetooth and LoRaWAN are all driving the connected world in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Clearly, business leaders believe wireless connectivity presents enormous opportunities, but there are also challenges to overcome,” said Jan Kaempfer, Marketing Director for Panasonic Connect Europe.

“Businesses have a lack of internal expertise and resources and there is a role for technology providers to play in supporting organisations with expertise and education to instil greater confidence and plug some of the resource gaps. But overall, the picture for wireless is very positive, with a strong appetite for innovation and advanced deployment. At Panasonic Connect Europe, we’re committed to helping business leaders understand the dominant drivers for wireless technology investment, the key technologies and their applications, and how to overcome barriers.”

The survey, carried out by independent research company Opinion Matters and commissioned by Panasonic Connect Europe, questioned over 300 senior decision makers with responsibility for wireless and network technologies, across the UK, France, and Germany, in the following sectors: Retail; Logistics & Supply Chain; Manufacturing; Education; Location-based Media and Entertainment; and Public Sector and Emergency Services.

Photo by Frederik Lipfert on Unsplash

42% rise in companies reporting cyber attacks by foreign governments

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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In 2018, 19% of organisations believed they were attacked by a nation-state – That figure increased to 27% in 2019, with companies in North America the most likely to report nation-state attribution, at 36%.

That’s according to Radware’s 2019-2020 Global Application & Network Security Report, which found that more than one in four respondents attribute attacks against their organisation to cyber warfare or nation-state activity. 

“Nation-state intrusions are among the most difficult attacks to thwart because the agencies responsible often have significant resources, knowledge of potential zero-day exploits, and the patience to plan and execute operations,” said Anna Convery-Pelletier, Chief Marketing Officer at Radware. “These attacks can result in the loss of sensitive trade, technological, or other data, and security teams may be at a distinct disadvantage.”

Radware says the findings come at a time of heightened anxiety for security managers. Organisations are increasingly turning to microservices, serverless architectures, and a mix of multiple cloud environments. Two in five managers reported using a hybrid environment that included cloud and on-premises data centers, and two in five said they relied on more than one public cloud environment. However, only 10% of respondents felt that their data was more secure in public cloud environments.

As organisations adapt their network infrastructure to enjoy the benefits of these new paradigms (such as microservices and multi-cloud environments), they increase their attack surface and decrease the overall visibility into their traffic. For example, 22% of respondents don’t even know if they were attacked, 27% of those who were attacked don’t know the hacker’s motivations, 38% are not sure whether an Internet of Things (IoT) botnet hit their networks, and 46% are not sure if they suffered an encrypted DDoS attack. 

Convery-Pelletier added: “This report finds that security professionals feel as though the battlefield is shifting under their feet.  Companies are increasingly adding and relying upon new paradigms, like microservices, public and hybrid clouds, and IoT, which means the infrastructure is harder to monitor for attacks. These new technologies force a shift in security implementation into the development teams.  Security is often an afterthought as businesses march forward, and there is a misconception that ‘good enough’ is enough.”

In addition, the report also found:

The emergence of 5G networks. As the push for 5G grows, there exists an important opportunity to build security into networks at its foundations. Despite the increasing buzz around 5G networks, only 26% of carriers responded that they felt well prepared for 5G deployment, while another 32% stated that they were somewhat prepared.  

Be careful what you wish for in terms of IoT. 5G promises to advance organisations’ implementation of and the value they derive from IoT technologies, but that promise comes with a corresponding increase in the attack surface. When it comes to IoT connected devices, 44% of respondents said malware propagation was their top concern, while lack of visibility followed at 20% and Denial of Service at 20%.

Data loss is top concern. About 30% of businesses stated that data theft as a result of a breach was their top concern following an attack, down from 35% the previous year, followed by service outages at 23%.  Meanwhile, 33% said that financial gain is a leading motivation for attacks.

To read Radware’s ERT report, visit https://www.radware.com/ert-report-2020/

Skills shortage and 5G fears at European data centres

 150 150 Stuart O'Brien
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Continuing unprecedented demand for new datacentres, fears around the shortage of skilled professionals, concerns about the future disruption of 5G, and the limited impact of Brexit are some of the key findings from the latest industry survey from Business Critical Solutions (BCS).

The Summer Report, now in its 10th year, is undertaken by independent research house IX Consulting, who capture the views of over 300 senior datacentre professionals across Europe, including owners, operators, developers, consultants and end users. It is commissioned by BCS, a specialist services provider to the digital infrastructure industry. 

The report highlights the rising demand for datacentres with almost two thirds of users exceeding 80% of their capacity today, 70% having increased capacity in the last six months and almost 60% planning increase capacity next year.

This demand is currently being driven by cloud computing with over three quarters of respondents identifying 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as disruptors for the future.

With industry predictions that edge computing will have 10 times the impact of cloud computing in the future, half of respondents believe it will be the biggest driver of new datacentres.

However, the survey found that the market remains confident that supply can be maintained, with over 90% of developers stating they have expanded their datacentre portfolio in the last six months.

With regards to supply, there are concerns that a shortage of sufficiently qualified professionals at the design and build stages will cause a bottle neck, with 64% of datacentre users and experts believing there is a lack of skilled design resource in the UK. AI and Machine Learning may help to mitigate these issues with nearly two thirds of respondents confident that datacentres will utilise these to simplify operations and drive efficiency.

The political uncertainty around Brexit continues to impact the sector with 78% of respondents believing that it will create an increase in demand for UK-based datacentres. However, the overall feeling was that the fundamentals underpinning the demand for datacentre space, such as the continued proliferation of technology-led services, outweighs these concerns and the European datacentre market will overcome any difficulties that occur.

Commenting on the report, James Hart, CEO at BCS, said: “As always this report makes for fascinating reading and I was encouraged by the overwhelming positive sentiment to forecast growth and the limited impact of Brexit. The fact that half of our respondents believe that edge computing will be the biggest driver of new datacentres tallies with our own convictions. We believe that the edge of the network will continue to be at the epicentre of innovation in the datacentre space and we are seeing a strong increase in the number of clients coming to us for help with the development of their edge strategy and rollouts.”

The full report can be downloaded here.

Image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay