The findings from ‘The state of network security in 2021’ report from Barracuda show that globally and in Australia, organisations are currently experiencing a high level of network breaches, and ever-increasing ransomware attacks are contributing to the security risks.

The report reveals that 86% of Australian respondents said their organisation has been the victim of a security breach once in the last year.

And Australian companies with staff working predominantly from home had a significantly higher network security breach rate (93%), compared to companies with staff working predominantly in the office (67%). 

Key findings on Australia also included:

• A full 72% of those surveyed said their organisation has been the victim of at least one ransomware attack in the last year.
• On average, only 12% of employees at the businesses surveyed currently work in the office all the time.
•  A full 96% of respondents with company-issued devices share their home internet connection with other members of their household, so the risk of breach remains.
•  33% of companies with all apps in the public cloud have already deployed SD-WAN, less than companies with only a few apps in the public cloud (40%).
•  67% of companies with all apps in the public cloud have deployed Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), while just 40% of companies with only a few apps in the public cloud have deployed it.
•  On average, organisations have 30 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps deployed.
•  On average, respondents said 62% of their traffic is directed to public cloud providers.
• 86% of respondents said their organisation has been the victim of a security breach once in the last year.
•  Companies with staff working predominantly from home had a significantly higher network security breach rate (93%), compared to companies with staff working predominantly in the office (67%). 

According to Tim Jefferson, SVP, Engineering for Data, Networks and Application Security, Barracuda, the “challenging situation” on network security is not surprising, “given the pandemic-induced remote work environment and rapid technology transformation”.

“Indeed, work-from-home is here to stay, and IT departments will need to support a hybrid environment that enables work from home and from the office,” says Jefferson.

“Despite broadband connections and company-issued devices, remote workers continue to experience IT pains, such as slow applications, dropped calls, and poor video. User-experience issues and security challenges are related. Companies that work to resolve security issues tend to also improve their user experience.

“Organisations are also realising that moving SaaS applications to the public cloud improves the user experience, and new technologies are available to support cloud presence and improve security.

“These Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technologies include networking and security components. Companies are also investing in and plan to continue to aggressively invest in SD-WAN and Zero Trust Network Access.

“To take full advantage of SASE deployments, organisations are choosing cloud-native SASE solutions. There is growing evidence that these investments are going to help organisations better adapt to the new work environment,” Jefferson added.

To download the full Barracuda report - ‘The state of network security in 2021’ -  click here.