Cloud-Native Solutions Take Top Priority in Post-COVID World
November 25, 2020
Research reveals rise of distributed networks, need for increased vigilance
By Anthony James, VP of Product Marketing, Infoblox

More than half a year into the shutdown, companies are still playing catch-up to optimize their remote work experience. Infoblox and Zogby Analytics have unveiled research into the ongoing IT challenges posed by the COVID-19 shutdown, based on a survey with 1,077 responses from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Japan, Australia, and Singapore.
Top Security Challenges in the Remote Working Era
Of all the upheavals to daily life brought about by the COVID-19 crisis, the shift to remote working has affected business across verticals more than perhaps any other factor. This new survey takes a close look at the key hurdles and roadblocks that CISOs, CTOs, CIOs, and cybersecurity professionals have had to confront in order to protect remote workers.
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Download the free report.
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According to the report’s findings, companies around the world are relying more on cloud technologies and seeing more cybersecurity attacks. Other key survey findings:
● The borderless enterprise is here to stay. More than 90% of decision-makers consider digital transformation and cloud-managed services a priority. The percentage of companies with a majority of employees working remotely more than tripled from 21% before the shutdown to 70% afterward. Meanwhile, 40% of companies, twice the pre-COVID-19 percentage, are permanently keeping a majority of workers remote.
● Organizations are still building out their IT infrastructure and security controls to optimize remote work. Organizations say distributing sanctioned devices (35%), building network infrastructure (35%), and securing the network (29%) are top IT challenges when transitioning to remote work.
● Threat mitigation and network visibility remain the top security concerns for the remote work environment. Among respondents, 68% say better threat detection and/or mitigation technologies would enable more remote work for their organizations. Specifically, respondents are looking for better visibility into devices on the corporate network (65%), cloud applications workers are using (61%), and compromised devices (46%).
● Security incidents are rising. Half of the surveyed businesses are seeing more cyberattacks — with the biggest jumps in China and Australia — while just a quarter are seeing fewer.
● Companies are reversing policies to allow the use of personal applications to foster collaboration. 63% of companies are allowing workers to connect with each other using applications like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Houseparty.
● Companies are using cloud security tools, particularly from the DDI family (DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management), to secure the borderless enterprise. And 59% of companies plan on making additional investments in DNS to secure their expanded networks.
When the COVID-19 shutdown started, organizations rushed to enable remote work overnight. Their top priority was to ensure that workers could connect to enterprise applications from their homes — sometimes through unsecured personal devices. While most organizations can now accommodate the basics of remote work, the report highlights the need for more security controls. To meet that need, a majority of surveyed companies are turning to DNS to rapidly stand up a foundational layer of security for employees working from home. Using a hybrid DNS security solution like BloxOne Threat Defense, enterprises can create a ubiquitous layer of visibility and security across their expanded infrastructures.
As partners pivot their offerings to customers to stay relevant and cater to the changing needs of enterprises, this report presents several useful insights relevant to security. The surge in demand for cloud-native solutions to secure the borderless enterprise in current times has validated Infoblox’s pioneering innovations in DDI and security solutions across verticals.
Anthony James, vice president of product marketing at Infoblox, is a seasoned technology and marketing executive with 20-plus years of marketing and product experience in the cybersecurity industry. He’s held multiple executive leadership roles in marketing and product management across a variety of security organizations – both start-ups and well-known companies such as Cyphort, FireEye, Fortinet, and TrapX. With his unique ability to dive deep into technology, he’s able to develop messaging and marketing strategies with high value and differentiation and has a proven track record of increasing market share for companies of all sizes. James holds an associate’s degree in Computer Science from the Sydney Institute of Technology in Australia, where he began his career before migrating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999 to drive innovation in Silicon Valley.
Top Security Challenges in the Remote Working Era
Of all the upheavals to daily life brought about by the COVID-19 crisis, the shift to remote working has affected business across verticals more than perhaps any other factor. This new survey takes a close look at the key hurdles and roadblocks that CISOs, CTOs, CIOs, and cybersecurity professionals have had to confront in order to protect remote workers.
****************************************************************
Download the free report.
****************************************************************
According to the report’s findings, companies around the world are relying more on cloud technologies and seeing more cybersecurity attacks. Other key survey findings:
● The borderless enterprise is here to stay. More than 90% of decision-makers consider digital transformation and cloud-managed services a priority. The percentage of companies with a majority of employees working remotely more than tripled from 21% before the shutdown to 70% afterward. Meanwhile, 40% of companies, twice the pre-COVID-19 percentage, are permanently keeping a majority of workers remote.
● Organizations are still building out their IT infrastructure and security controls to optimize remote work. Organizations say distributing sanctioned devices (35%), building network infrastructure (35%), and securing the network (29%) are top IT challenges when transitioning to remote work.
● Threat mitigation and network visibility remain the top security concerns for the remote work environment. Among respondents, 68% say better threat detection and/or mitigation technologies would enable more remote work for their organizations. Specifically, respondents are looking for better visibility into devices on the corporate network (65%), cloud applications workers are using (61%), and compromised devices (46%).
● Security incidents are rising. Half of the surveyed businesses are seeing more cyberattacks — with the biggest jumps in China and Australia — while just a quarter are seeing fewer.
● Companies are reversing policies to allow the use of personal applications to foster collaboration. 63% of companies are allowing workers to connect with each other using applications like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Houseparty.
● Companies are using cloud security tools, particularly from the DDI family (DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management), to secure the borderless enterprise. And 59% of companies plan on making additional investments in DNS to secure their expanded networks.
When the COVID-19 shutdown started, organizations rushed to enable remote work overnight. Their top priority was to ensure that workers could connect to enterprise applications from their homes — sometimes through unsecured personal devices. While most organizations can now accommodate the basics of remote work, the report highlights the need for more security controls. To meet that need, a majority of surveyed companies are turning to DNS to rapidly stand up a foundational layer of security for employees working from home. Using a hybrid DNS security solution like BloxOne Threat Defense, enterprises can create a ubiquitous layer of visibility and security across their expanded infrastructures.
As partners pivot their offerings to customers to stay relevant and cater to the changing needs of enterprises, this report presents several useful insights relevant to security. The surge in demand for cloud-native solutions to secure the borderless enterprise in current times has validated Infoblox’s pioneering innovations in DDI and security solutions across verticals.
Anthony James, vice president of product marketing at Infoblox, is a seasoned technology and marketing executive with 20-plus years of marketing and product experience in the cybersecurity industry. He’s held multiple executive leadership roles in marketing and product management across a variety of security organizations – both start-ups and well-known companies such as Cyphort, FireEye, Fortinet, and TrapX. With his unique ability to dive deep into technology, he’s able to develop messaging and marketing strategies with high value and differentiation and has a proven track record of increasing market share for companies of all sizes. James holds an associate’s degree in Computer Science from the Sydney Institute of Technology in Australia, where he began his career before migrating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999 to drive innovation in Silicon Valley.