The majority of companies find the loss of productivity, securing complex tech environments, and enabling data protection to be the most concerning business issues, driven by growing IT security needs and requirements, according to new research from Kaspersky.

The annual Kaspersky IT Security Economics report analyses the changes in budgets, breaches, and business challenges affecting IT security makers, compiled of interviews of leaders from organisations of varying sizes and industries across 27 countries.

According to the report, downtime and lost productivity are the most concerning business problems caused by ineffective IT security, an opinion expressed by 38% of companies.

They encounter this problem mainly because of the long time taken to detect, respond to, and remediate threats.

Securing complex technology environments and ensuring data connectivity were next on the list of key concerns, according to 33% of respondents.

Among the main IT issues that cause this challenge, respondents pointed to the rising number of incidents involving non-computing connected devices and incorrect operations of cybersecurity solutions that leave systems exposed.

Additionally, difficulties in managing security across different computing platforms play a crucial role in their inability to build a reliable all-encompassing cybersecurity system.

Securing complex technology environments and ensuring data connectivity were next on the list of key concerns, according to 33% of respondents. Among the main IT issues that cause this challenge, respondents pointed to the rising number of incidents involving non-computing connected devices and incorrect operations of cybersecurity solutions that leave systems exposed.

Additionally, difficulties in managing security across different computing platforms play a crucial role in their inability to build a reliable all-encompassing cybersecurity system.

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Data protection is the third most important concern that was expressed by 33% of companies, the same as the second one.

Respondents were worried about this because they regularly encountered the physical loss of devices by employees and experienced leakage of data from corporate systems caused by both external and internal reasons.

“In today’s complex and constantly evolving threat landscape, the sophistication of cyber-attacks has necessitated a heightened awareness among businesses,” Alexey Vovk, information security director at Kaspersky, said.

“It is crucial for organizations to safeguard every aspect of their operations from potential breaches. Attackers no longer solely rely on zero-day exploits, as a simple click on a malicious link or a vulnerability in a contractor’s infrastructure can lead to devastating consequences.

“This underscores the idea that information security should be based on a comprehensive and systematic approach, rather than being limited to the implementation of individual point-specific measures.”