U.S. firms to boost cybersecurity spending and examine password elimination

| Rawlson King
Categories Access Control  |  Biometrics News  |  Trade Notes

A new survey of IT professionals in the U.S. found that 66 percent have committed to phasing out traditional passwords. The survey findings also revealed that the majority of IT professionals had experienced a data breach and are projecting increased cybersecurity spending over the next year.

The survey of more than 300 IT security professionals, commissioned by SecureAuth Corporation and conducted by Wakefield Research, found that 66 percent of respondents have opted to leverage authentication methods other than passwords for their corporate IT systems.

Perhaps owing to both security holes and their cumbersome nature, 91 percent of surveyed IT professionals agree that the traditional password will not exist in 10 years. In addition, the survey postulates that password recall issues waste corporate resources. The survey results noted 85 percent of IT professionals believe employees frequently contact IT help desks because they have forgotten passwords: with more than one in three (37%) saying their employees do this all the time.

While new authentication techniques were found to be reliable by 97 percent of respondents, the survey concurrently found that 81 percent of IT professionals think new authentication methods are prohibitive because they require updated technology and software.

“This survey very clearly indicates there is an appetite for multi-factor authentication solutions beyond the traditional password,” said Craig Lund, CEO of SecureAuth. “Advances in adaptive authentication have brought to market a number of options that help users stay both secure and productive by layering multiple methods, such as device recognition, analysis of the physical location of the user, or even by using behavioral biometrics to continually verify the true identity of the end user.”

In addition to evaluating alternative authentication techniques to passwords, the survey also found indications that businesses across the United States are on the cusp of increasing their cybersecurity budgets. The research found that 59 percent of respondents claim their company experienced a data breach in the last 12 months and that 95 percent think their companies will increase security spending in the next year. Of that number, 44 percent expect that their respective organization will raise their cybersecurity spending by 20 percent or more.

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