A survey of 100 top security executives at companies with revenues of $1 billion or more showed that some firms are so enthusiastic about the potential of new Web and mobile technologies, they are deploying them without adequately securing critical processes and data.

This sums up the 2009 IDG Research Services study commissioned by RSA, the Security Division of EMC.

The study, the first of two released by RSA last month, reveals a significant gap between the speed at which organizations are adopting new connectivity, collaboration and communication technologies and their readiness to deploy them securely.

As a division of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading technology media, research, and event company, IDG Research Services’ global products and services have become the trusted source for advice and insight into technology news and trends around the world.

The second study, this time from RSA’s Security for Business Innovation Council, outlines how companies can capitalize on the significant business advantages these new technologies represent
without putting their organizations at risk.

The Security for Business Innovation Council is comprised of 10 highly-successful Global 1000 security executives who are committed to sharing their own insights and experiences to help move information security forward at organizations worldwide.

“Businesses are becoming ‘hyper-extended enterprises’, exchanging information with more constituencies in more ways and in more places than ever before,” said Art Coviello, Executive Vice President, EMC Corporation and President, RSA, The Security Division of EMC, in a press release furnished to InfoTech.

He added, “The rapid adoption of nascent Web, social and mobile technologies combined with the rising use of outsourcing is quickly dissolving what remains of the traditional boundaries around our organizations and information assets. Security strategies must shift dramatically to ensure companies can achieve their goals to cut costs and meet revenue targets without creating dangerous new business vulnerabilities.”

Key findings of the first study include:

- More than 70 percent of survey respondents believe escalating levels of connectivity and information exchange powered by new Web and communication technologies are transforming their organizations into hyper-extended enterprises.

- The majority of organizations have increased their use of virtualization, mobility and social networking over the past 12 to 24 months, with more than one-third reporting an increase in cloud computing.
However, many of the responding companies do not have adequate strategies to assess the risks involved in adopting these new technologies. In some organizations, the corporate security department is only brought in when problems occur and in others, security is not even informed before these new technologies are used.
- Less than half of respondents have developed policies for employees to guide the use of social networking tools and sites.
- More than 30 percent of the responding companies already have at least some enterprise applications or business processes running in the cloud, with another 16 percent planning to begin migration within the next 12 months. Among these, two-thirds do not yet have a security strategy in place for cloud computing.
- More than eight of 10 respondents are concerned that pressure to cut costs and generate revenue has increased their exposure to security risks. More than seven in 10 have experienced a security incident in the last 18 months.
- The majority of respondents agree they need to change and improve their approach to enterprise security strategy to accommodate the realities of the hyper-extended enterprise.

Study findings are summarized in the IDG Research Services white paper, “As Hyper-Extended Enterprises Grow, So Do Security Risks.”

In another news, in the fourth Security for Business Innovation Council report, “Charting the Path: Enabling the “Hyper-Extended” Enterprise in the Face of Unprecedented Risk,” top security leaders from around the globe explore how security strategies must transform in a world in which well-intentioned actions to drive new business value could open up disastrous risk exposures.

“At this particular point in time, when we have such a rapidly-changing environment, we need to absolutely cry, ‘Time out!’ We need to step away from it, and we need to examine if our program has all the right gears,” commented Council member Claudia Natanson, Chief Information Security Officer, Diageo.

He added, “Is your program road-ready for the rough ride that you may be about to embark on? Because only the most agile, only the fittest, only the most flexible will make it to the end.”