APAC Fast Adopting Zero Trust Security
Asia-Pacific is a growing target for cybercriminals due to the ample opportunity the region presents. With more businesses shifting to digital, there is an increased surface area for attackers to exploit.
Okta, an independent identity provider company, recently released the results of its latest research. It showed that security concerns in today's dynamic cyber threat landscape are prompting more companies in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt Zero Trust security initiatives.
The State of Zero Trust Security in Asia Pacific 2022 report, commissioned by Okta and conducted by Pulse Q&A, found that 50% of APAC companies had implemented a Zero Trust Security initiative — an increase of 18 percentage points from the 2021 figure.
Although the rate of Zero Trust adoption among APAC organizations (18% YoY growth) was lower than the global figure, almost all respondents in APAC have a defined Zero Trust security initiative in play or planned for 2022.
Zero Trust is a security framework that requires all users, whether inside or outside the organization's network, to be authenticated and authorized before they can access applications and data. It enables organizations to better defend against sophisticated cyber threats by balancing the need for visibility and control.
The report also found that APAC organizations were slower than other regions to recognize the importance of leaving passwords behind in the quest for more robust security and identity management (IAM) systems to combat increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The adoption of passwordless access in companies across the Asia Pacific is significantly lower than in the rest of the world, with only 0.5% having implemented it and 10% planning to implement it over the next 18 months.
When asked about their organizations' overall Zero Trust security strategies, 80% of global respondents said that identity was important or business-critical while an additional 19% said it was mission-critical.
Meanwhile, APAC respondents consider identity a vital part of their overall Zero Trust security strategy, with 83% rating it as very or extremely important. An additional 15% say that identity is critical to business success.
This indicates a growing consensus among global organizations concerning the need for an identity-first approach in Zero Trust environments.
"By adopting Zero Trust Security, companies can position themselves to overcome the challenges presented by hybrid work–including mobile and remote working–by adopting an identity-centric approach to network and resource access rather than relying on outdated security models based on the traditional network perimeter," says Ben Goodman, senior vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific, Okta.
"Our research showed that while APAC companies lagged behind their global counterparts in implementing Zero Trust Security, 98% of respondents recognized that identity was important or business-critical to that approach," Goodman concluded.
