Price Most Important to IT Managers When Buying Endpoint Security

More than 70 percent of SMB IT managers say budget considerations have forced them to compromise on security features when purchasing endpoint security.

That’s according to a new survey by antivirus software provider VIPRE. It involved 253 U.S. IT managers and IT directors working with companies with five to 500 employees.

Overall, price was the top factor in endpoint security purchases (53 percent), followed by ease of use (47 percent), feature set (41 percent), support (34 percent), advanced detection technology (31 percent), cloud-based management (29 percent) and ransomware (21 percent).

Jason Greenwood, VIPRE’s chief revenue officer, tells Channel Partners that in the “battle to balance enterprise security with constrained budgets, IT managers feel they need to sacrifice advanced security features.”

“The challenge will be for solution providers to effectively communicate the increasing[ly] complex threat environment that requires the need for advanced protections in their customer’s environment,” he said.

Ninety percent of respondents said they can afford advanced protection, but only 31 percent consider that when selecting their endpoint security. Also, 48 percent of respondents agreed with this statement: “An organization of my size does not need endpoint security with advanced malware defense capabilities.”{ad}

As ransomware attacks and awareness of the threat increases, more than half (53 percent) of respondents would recommend negotiating a payment to the attackers — up from 30 percent in 2015. Also, 82 percent of companies suffering a cyberattack in the last year would negotiate over ransomware.

Despite that willingness, 83 percent of respondents said they would personally guarantee that their customers’ data would be safe in 2017, up from 81 percent two years ago. Eighty-eight percent of companies breached over the last year would guarantee protection and 100 percent of those who have been breached over the last five years would do the same, “indicating that those companies have strengthened their defenses, but might still believe they wouldn’t be hit again,” according to VIPRE.

A little less than half (45 percent) of IT managers have had to remove malware from an executive’s computer due to phishing, a figure that rises to 56 percent for larger companies (351-500 employees). Respondents also cited visits to porn websites (26 percent), letting a family member use a company-owned device (22 percent), attaching an infected USB stick or phone (22 percent) and installing a malicious app (21 percent) as reasons they had to remove malware. Only one-quarter (25 percent) said they have never been asked to remove malware from an executive’s computer.

“Despite ongoing education and training, executive computers and other devices are still being infected at increasing rates and IT professionals are constantly being asked to remove malware from infected devices,” Greenwood said. “This presents a significant opportunity for …

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… solution providers to reinforce the need for advanced endpoint security that’s simple to deploy and maintain — and without restricting productivity.”

Other survey findings include:

• Two in five (40 percent) respondents believe cybersecurity will become more difficult in the Trump administration, while another 40 percent believe it will be less difficult, and 19 percent believe there will be no change.
• Nearly 80 percent feel they have a strong grasp over security because they have enough in-house resources to manage endpoint security and other security offerings.
• More than three in five (60 percent) believe free endpoint security products provide enough protection for “organizations of my size,” but 90 percent have more confidence in products they buy than those available for free.
• About 67 percent said security products are too complex, including 94 percent of companies that suffered a breach in the past year.