- IT leaders reporting burnout and stress, Google Workspace report finds
- Generative AI is becoming more important to solutions and threats
- Legacy tech is putting organizations at risk
It probably won’t come as a huge surprise that burnout is a significant concern for IT workers and security leaders, but new research from Google Workspace has claimed most are more worried about their teams being overwhelmed.
The company's report found nearly half (43%) saw being overwhelmed as a serious concern, showing current approaches are unsustainable for many businesses.
Overall, the report found nearly all (96%) of organizations said they were confident in their security posture, yet 81% reported experiencing at least one security incident per year, showing there is much work left to be done.
Ever-present threats
The threat landscape is changing thanks to AI, and security teams are seeing more incidents than ever. The new research shows that 81% of organizations see at least one threat per year, with the average being 8 per year.
This may not sound like much, but when the average cost of a data breach is now $4.45 million, even one incident per year can cripple an organization if they're not properly protected.
Some risky behaviors were uncovered in the report, with 63% of respondents using unlicensed generative AI tools on a weekly basis, and almost half (48%) trust unlicensed gen AI tools to help them deal with threats.
As might be expected, AI is at the forefront of security concerns, and while 93% of security decision makers are worried about incidents, the top breach issue is from generative AI attacks, with nearly a third (31%) identifying this as a primary concern.
Gen AI as a security tool is also gaining traction, with 59% of security decision-makers seeing it as a key tool in combating evolving threats.
Legacy tech was also identified as a major issue, which 75% of IT leaders say is leaving them ill-equipped to handle modern security threats. Nearly two-thirds (59%) of organizations admitted relying on outdated technology had hinders their security preparedness, and 71% said legacy technology has left them less prepared for the future.
"The evidence from our research is clear: Organizations don’t need more security products, they need more secure products," noted Andy Wen, Senior Director of Product Management, Security, Google Workspace.
"If they’re going to stave off a barrage of sophisticated attacks in the future, they need to move away from outdated solutions and approaches that were designed for the desktop era. They need to embrace secure-by-design solutions that address the modern threat landscape and the way we work now."
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