The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the remote working trend by at least 20 years in most parts of the United States. To enable remote workers, digital transformation initiatives that were intended to be rolled out over a period of years instead occurred within weeks or months. In the process, security issues were initially pushed aside or ignored altogether in the rush to enable remote workers and protect productivity. That resulted in many organizations unintentionally increasing cyber risk and needing to reexamine security postures.

This study surveyed budget influencing executives in the United States. The respondent profile is 30% C-level executives, 17% executive management, 21% director-level, 12% middle management, 10% senior management, and 10% manager-level. This research provides a glimpse inside the minds of cybersecurity technology end users to determine what concerns them, what their security posture is, and what is most important to them when making purchasing decisions. It also provides insight on the security implications for American companies as a new and far-reaching second Cold War has erupted between the United States and Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Author: Jarad Carleton